Family

      We think about God and others. Some of the "others" most forgotten are family. Families are special. Marriages are not to be "put asunder" (Mark 10:19). Oftentimes with divorce, families are also put asunder. Marriage is symbolic of  men's and women's relationship with God in that Jesus is the groom and the Church is his bride. In that case, the family is the children of Jesus and the Church.
     This morning I had a dream: My children were young again and we three were close together, embracing and showing love. My oldest, always aloof, was not there. The dream was lucid; I dreamed that I loved my children, and in my dream I showed love. I still feel close to my dream-children. They were real to me. Perhaps I was reliving a memory; I don't know, but it was almost real!
     When my love and content was at a crescendo, I suddenly awakened, My dream was lost to reality, and it seemed that my loving children had died. I had not quite recovered from sleep, and it appeared that I had lost my children. It was almost as if I had went to the funeral of my own children, or perhaps they to mine. My oldest son's missing caused great anxiety. Where was he?
     All day long I mourned the "loss" of my children. I wished that I could relive with them their childhood and do it right. They are still alive; maybe it's not too late to love with more profundity. As I told my daughter, "I wish I could rewind life!" She said, "Me too!" Most people would have done things differently. The time I spent elsewhere was time lost with my children. The years I lost migrating to other jobs in other states was unfair to my children and parents.
     The time that I lost with my children was also time they lost with me. Time loss is double-time because loss with others doubles the loss. That means that when I didn't give my parents time, I robbed the same time from them! When I quit feeling sorry for my own lost time, was when I empathized with my parents' lost time. I never considered that when I moved away, they missed me, but only thought how much I missed them. There is no second-chances for my parents because they are gone. I did take time for their funerals, but that did not recover lost time, but only aggravated it. I could have added those last two days with the dead bodies to the last two days with their living souls.
    My vision at this moment is the smile on Dad's face as my glorified body stands besides his with one thing in common - we're there with Jesus so we're okay; no "very good" (Gen 1:31). My vision is my Mom with her wet cheek kisses. (She thought they did not "take" unless her lips were wet.)
     We can't rewind, but we can move forward. Take time for those who count, and if they don't count, include them. No one ever seems sorry until it's too late to rectify. This commentary is fair warning; don't do things differently next time; just cease the indifference this time!