Loved Ones

I just returned this morning from a 12 hour trip to the funeral for a very close aunt who passed away earlier in the week from complications with Alzheimer's. Though the occasion for the trip was a sad one, it was a very enjoyable one; I saw cousins that I have not seen since my mother died 15 years ago.

One cousin, in particular, I had completely lost touch with. She and I were extremely close when we were children and teens and had vowed to one another we would never be like those people who lost touch with their relatives and yet, here we were. She turned 50 last month and her daughter had tried to locate me for a surprise birthday celebration, but, without asking her mother, she had so little info to go on she gave up. I'm so sorry I missed it.

We have all briefly renewed our acquaintances and exchanged e-mails--hopefully we will do better at keeping in touch. The older I get the more important keeping those ties becomes and the more I recognize how much alike we as family really are: we all looked so much alike it was a little scary. I did question myself, however, about why we seemed to have drifted so far apart and there was one thing that became so obvious at the reunion. Those relatives with whom I share a relationship in Christ with, I have not drifted from--it is the ones who have no relationship with Christ that I have drifted from; we have nothing in common other than physical traits and history.

I love my physical family and have renewed my resolve once again to try and be an influence upon them for Christ--for some, I fear it is way too late, but for others I have slight hope. I was reminded, though, how thankful I am for the family I have in Christ Jesus through the church; I share far more in common with them than most of my physical family and I know where ever I worship with the saints, I am surrounded by my loved ones.

Dana Burk