Colourfulness in togetherness

One of the experiments a gardener would like to make is to have a common flower bed for different plants. As each plant needs a particular type of bed, manure, light exposure or shade, it is often difficult for the gardener to choose the different plants belonging to heterogenous species that can be planted together. However, every garden will have some flower beds which different flowering plants share. Such beds are a family of flowers brought into being by the gardener. Together they add colourfullness to the garden. Such flower beds stand out in a garden and reflect the skills of the gardener.

A family on earth is such a coming together of parents, children, grandparents, etc. to form a flower bed of rich blend of colours. Each family has  been brought and knit together by the gardener of our Soul, the creator God, whom Jesus of Nazareth referred to as the 'vine dresser', who plants and prunes. There is colourfulness in humanity because two people, a man and woman,  of different temperament, abilities, gifts, backgrounds, upbringing, skills, etc. are brought together in marriage to form the family. What brings and binds them together is a calling to 'love, cherish and and to be fruitful'. All the differences between a married couple then get blended into shared experiences, through which both partners grow to express the colourfulness of their lives through their home, children, and vocation. 

We live in a society, whose social ethos is individuality. Many do not like to get married; some delay it as long they can; many delay having children or do no have children so that they can live single, although married. There is more of individuality than shared experiences even in families who stay together. 

A family who visited me for professional consultation had a litany complaints. When I asked them to write down the good experiences they have shared together during the fifteen years of married life, the list surprised them. This exercise brought a new insight into their joys and blessings. This made them less defensive and accusatory. It was easier to proceed for the subsequent meetings, because of a new awareness about the colourfulness in togetherness. 

Each of us can be comfortable by being alone, but if our calling has been for togetherness in married life, then it is better to choose to be fruitful by sharing lives at a profoundly intimate level. Every human life is a well of resources and blessings that it is through an encounter in a deeper plane we can experience and  convey  the abundance of life. 

We watch individual plants and their blossoms with delight. But a flowerbed of flowers of multiple colours captivates us as it is beautiful beyond everything else. 

If there is ONE  mission, we pay least attention to in our churches, organisations or in civil society is FAMILY ENRICHMENT.

If there are those who feel similarly, please get in touch with us for pursuing a dream.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)