Love transcends distance
21/06/14 06:36
Our children have a wonderful next door neighbor. He is a few years older than I and fully retired. He is cheerful and friendly and quick to help his neighbors. We have met him on several occasions and it seems very good to us that our children and grandchildren have such a caring neighbor. He an I have brief conversations whenever I visit our kids. On a couple of occasions in the past couple of days we have spoken about the great distances that separate our families. He also has children and grandchildren that live a long away from him and his wife. They travel to visit them and enjoy every visit, but the times between visits seem a bit long.
We are very luck to live in the time that we do. In our family histories are stories of previous generations that set forth to new places and had very little contact with their parents. When my mother’s grandparents set forth from their families to go west to Montana territory that was the last time they ever saw them face to face. They wrote letters, but they had moved too far for visits. We have the luxury of travel. We can cover big distances when we want to make a visit. If we needed to get here more quickly, we could fly. We also have easy access to unlimited long distance calling, so we can have a conversation whenever we want. And we have video conferencing with our computers that allows us to see what is going on in real time. These technological innovations were unknown to previous generations.
Still, there are families who stay in the same community. After my mother’s grandparents arrived in Montana, the family put down roots. My mother could walk to the homes of either set of grandparents when she was a girl. The oldest of her sisters stayed int he same community. Except for one, the others moved to other towns, but stayed int he same state. The family farm is now being cared for by the fifth and sixth generations. We have similar families in our church, who have the joy of multiple generations living in close proximity to each other.
When we were called into the ministry we knew that we wouldn’t have control over the locations where we served. God’s call invites an openness to moving to new places and meeting new people. We have sought to be faithful to that call. On two occasions that has meant moving our family long distances. It meant that our children were raised hundreds of miles trom their grandparents. We raised independent children who had experience with moving and going to new places. Both chose colleges that were in different states than our residence. Both bought their first homes in other places. Like many families all around the world, we have ended up with big distances between us. Sometimes, when we are feeling a bit lonely for our children we will comment, “at least they are on the same continent.” Our daughter did live in England for two years. We got to visit her there one time during those years and she was able to make the trip home twice, so we weren’t exactly deprived of time being face to face.
We raise our children to be independent people who make their own choices and seek their own paths in life. Part of what makes them so fascinating to us is that they aren’t the same as us. They don’t make the same decisions that we have made. They find their own ways in this world. Often that means that we find ourselves with distances separating us.
It is a dilemma that is as old as the oldest stories of our Bible. Although we often read the opening chapters of Genesis as the beginning, there are stories in the Bible that are even older than those. One of the most ancient texts begins, “A wandering Aramean was my father.” It tells part of the story of Sarai and Abram, who left the land of their parents and forebears and their growing up years. Their departure into an unknown land was a big event int he history of our people. The development of our faith required hands on knowledge of the fact that God is not attached to any one place. When people travel, the same God goes with them and remains with them in the new place as well as being God of the place that they have left. It seems like a simple idea to us today, but it was a whole new concept for our ancient forebears. Once they discovered that God was the same no matter where they went, they were freed to pursue new lives and form new communities. The stories of the Bible are connected to the adventures of our people as they traveled to distant countries and made their homes there then picked up and traveled to yet more new places. Their journeys make up a substantial portion of our biblical history.
It took several generations for our people to learn that love is greater than the distances that separate us. The concept, however, is central to our faith. We do not have to be in the same place to be bound together in God’s love. We do not have to be in the same place to share our lives.
There are times when we feel a bit sad about the distances of our family. We keep wanting to have our children together in the same place at the same time and that isn’t always easy to arrange. I guess that we can feel lucky to have a family with only two children. That way we occupy only three states. If we had more, we’d probably be even more spread out.
On the other hand, I do feel fortunate that we have somehow succeeded in staying so close despite the distances that separate us. I know families who live in much closer physical distance whose lives are filled with tension and dysfunction.
So we enjoy the time that we have together and we plan for the next time. We use the tools that we have to remain in contact. And we celebrate the simple fact that love transcends all distances.
We are very luck to live in the time that we do. In our family histories are stories of previous generations that set forth to new places and had very little contact with their parents. When my mother’s grandparents set forth from their families to go west to Montana territory that was the last time they ever saw them face to face. They wrote letters, but they had moved too far for visits. We have the luxury of travel. We can cover big distances when we want to make a visit. If we needed to get here more quickly, we could fly. We also have easy access to unlimited long distance calling, so we can have a conversation whenever we want. And we have video conferencing with our computers that allows us to see what is going on in real time. These technological innovations were unknown to previous generations.
Still, there are families who stay in the same community. After my mother’s grandparents arrived in Montana, the family put down roots. My mother could walk to the homes of either set of grandparents when she was a girl. The oldest of her sisters stayed int he same community. Except for one, the others moved to other towns, but stayed int he same state. The family farm is now being cared for by the fifth and sixth generations. We have similar families in our church, who have the joy of multiple generations living in close proximity to each other.
When we were called into the ministry we knew that we wouldn’t have control over the locations where we served. God’s call invites an openness to moving to new places and meeting new people. We have sought to be faithful to that call. On two occasions that has meant moving our family long distances. It meant that our children were raised hundreds of miles trom their grandparents. We raised independent children who had experience with moving and going to new places. Both chose colleges that were in different states than our residence. Both bought their first homes in other places. Like many families all around the world, we have ended up with big distances between us. Sometimes, when we are feeling a bit lonely for our children we will comment, “at least they are on the same continent.” Our daughter did live in England for two years. We got to visit her there one time during those years and she was able to make the trip home twice, so we weren’t exactly deprived of time being face to face.
We raise our children to be independent people who make their own choices and seek their own paths in life. Part of what makes them so fascinating to us is that they aren’t the same as us. They don’t make the same decisions that we have made. They find their own ways in this world. Often that means that we find ourselves with distances separating us.
It is a dilemma that is as old as the oldest stories of our Bible. Although we often read the opening chapters of Genesis as the beginning, there are stories in the Bible that are even older than those. One of the most ancient texts begins, “A wandering Aramean was my father.” It tells part of the story of Sarai and Abram, who left the land of their parents and forebears and their growing up years. Their departure into an unknown land was a big event int he history of our people. The development of our faith required hands on knowledge of the fact that God is not attached to any one place. When people travel, the same God goes with them and remains with them in the new place as well as being God of the place that they have left. It seems like a simple idea to us today, but it was a whole new concept for our ancient forebears. Once they discovered that God was the same no matter where they went, they were freed to pursue new lives and form new communities. The stories of the Bible are connected to the adventures of our people as they traveled to distant countries and made their homes there then picked up and traveled to yet more new places. Their journeys make up a substantial portion of our biblical history.
It took several generations for our people to learn that love is greater than the distances that separate us. The concept, however, is central to our faith. We do not have to be in the same place to be bound together in God’s love. We do not have to be in the same place to share our lives.
There are times when we feel a bit sad about the distances of our family. We keep wanting to have our children together in the same place at the same time and that isn’t always easy to arrange. I guess that we can feel lucky to have a family with only two children. That way we occupy only three states. If we had more, we’d probably be even more spread out.
On the other hand, I do feel fortunate that we have somehow succeeded in staying so close despite the distances that separate us. I know families who live in much closer physical distance whose lives are filled with tension and dysfunction.
So we enjoy the time that we have together and we plan for the next time. We use the tools that we have to remain in contact. And we celebrate the simple fact that love transcends all distances.