A Simple Expression

She says she prefers things to be simple.

She didn’t like the drama and the fuss. She was not keen on the politics and the backstabbing. She didn’t want to be a part of the games that people played whilst still presenting a so-called united front. She had seen that and been part of that for long enough. She was looking for something different, something simple. She liked the thought of being a part of a family.

They made an effort to welcome her too. A lovely cup of coffee and a friendly chat the first week, the following week they had a lovely little conversation sharing information about each other. They called her when she missed a gathering after six weeks and popped over to share some goodies with the youngest daughter when she had the flu. They made her feel like she belonged and there were seemingly no strings attached.

This was no long game strategy on their part to suck her in. They really were content for her to engage to whatever degree she felt comfortable. After a while she knew how things went and she was really getting to know a few of them really well. She liked the routine she got into and she liked how her children had made friends with others and enjoyed their youth club activities.

This was not about perfection, she knew it didn’t exist, but she wanted to know that what she read about could be real. She didn’t understand why there had to be so many layers of complexity added to all that she read. What was with all the rites and rituals and hoops to jump to be seen as being in with the right people? Why did it have to be so hard to be family, when here was an example of how that operated? Especially when it operates in this very simple expression of community.

When her granddaughters came to visit her a few decades later, they asked her lots of questions as to what it was that helped her to stay with this group for so long. She did not answer them in words. She allowed them to spend a few weeks in her company to see her life from her perspective.  By the end of the second week they could see clearly what it was. A simple expression of an amazing love among a few apparently ordinary people made brand new in the light of who they knew and loved to grow in knowing.

For her, it was as simple as that.

(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden