A new prayer grouping has formed in my prayer book: families members who are estranged from one another, mainly grown children from their parents, but it can happen the other way.
We all have had times when we have been close to our parents, and times when we have needed distance. Children need to get away to become independent, to become adults, and we know that some parent/child relationship are closer than others. All of this is part of the normal human condition.
But it is not normal for grown children to cut themselves off and disappear from their parents. It is certainly a deep heartache for the parents, and I have to assume that it is also so for the children who have chosen to isolate themselves.
God knows there are reasons, and thus much to forgive. I pray that everyone can make the leap to forgiveness, for when families are cut off from each other, time, which can never be regained, runs out. Grandchildren grow up, grown children get older, parents can count a limited number of remaining years, and the call comes too late.
Here is some universal wisdom for a peaceful end: thank you, I’m sorry, I forgive you, forgive me, I love you. But don’t wait until the end; don’t wait until it’s too late.
We all have had times when we have been close to our parents, and times when we have needed distance. Children need to get away to become independent, to become adults, and we know that some parent/child relationship are closer than others. All of this is part of the normal human condition.
But it is not normal for grown children to cut themselves off and disappear from their parents. It is certainly a deep heartache for the parents, and I have to assume that it is also so for the children who have chosen to isolate themselves.
God knows there are reasons, and thus much to forgive. I pray that everyone can make the leap to forgiveness, for when families are cut off from each other, time, which can never be regained, runs out. Grandchildren grow up, grown children get older, parents can count a limited number of remaining years, and the call comes too late.
Here is some universal wisdom for a peaceful end: thank you, I’m sorry, I forgive you, forgive me, I love you. But don’t wait until the end; don’t wait until it’s too late.
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