Beauty in the morning

First thing in the morning is when I have my focused journaling and reading time. This morning, my friend Jennifer has posted a link to some gorgeous photos from a competition. I love how the photograph can capture such emotion in a single frame. Lucy of course enjoyed looking at the pictures with me (baby! she says) and of course, as a mother, I am moved by the family shots. I think one of the most striking is the #22. The coldness, as described in the caption, is palpable.

I'm fascinated with these connections between family and communication. What shuts a person down for their whole parenting career so that at the end of their life, they are known as having been cold and loveless for so many years?

I know that I spent many years trying to communicate with my own mother -often railing and raging against her, seemingly with no change. What happens to a person? I know that my own love for my family and others is in some ways biological in nature - what happens to make biology go awry? I can't imagine not having that imperative to protect and nurture one's offspring. These are questions I'm sure I'll face more and more as an individual, a friend, a minister. They are so difficult to wrestle with, and of course are not limited to family relationships.

Regardless of deep cosmic questions, I'm surrounded by quiet this morning, Lucy on the couch eating cereal, soft rain falling outside the porch window, and I'm working at my new desk, carefully crafted for me by my husband. It's beautiful and perfect. Perhaps our resident hummingbird will make an appearance outside my window, completing the picture.

I am so blessed, and need to be aware of the constant reminders of that fact.