Lent Day 15: Need for relationships

This morning when I woke up. Actually, before I woke up, I heard Ulrich eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast. My dad is visiting and may be incapable of starting his day without cereal and we are low on both milk and cereal. "Ulrich" I moaned. His response - "...seems I can't do anything right this week." I felt bad. One nag too many. I wrote him an email later telling him I was sorry, pregnant ladies can't always help nagging.

Later, I read on facebook a blog post from a stay-at-home mom who wrote a wonderful appreciative post about her husband giving her the freedom to raise children and pursue her call in life. Then, my mom called to talk about my brother's recent engagement. My brother called to talk about lent. My student showed up and we talked about cultural differences in raising children. I talked about how I noted that African mothers keep babies close to their skin during their first two years and wondered if that contributed to what I sense as an overall calm in handling strife and tragedy. The entire evening was dominated by Eddie's need to lay on me. He was whiny and clingy. Finally, after getting Eddie to bed, my dad and I ended up having a long thoughtful discussion about gay marriage and polygamy (which deserves it's own post on some other blog).

My reflection on all this is that we need each other. To talk to, to lean on, to flat out lay on. We are created in God's image. Made to be in relationship -- as God, in the trinity, is in relationship. And that the outcome of relationship is creation. God made the world. We support each other to pursue dreams, ideas, goals. We support each other to make and raise babies. Unlike God, however, there are imperfections in our relationships and thus a need for repentance and forgiveness. A need for patience and trying again. A need to listen more. A need to love and to keep loving. 

As the gifts of the Spirit support us in our walk and relationship with God. They also go a long way in healing and strengthening our relationships with each other. Guess, I still need whatever gift of the Spirit that would keep me from overly nagging my amazing husband.