Never are we alone.

This I know well even as I am lodging in a place I have never been before.  Outside my window are palm trees and growing things.  The Gulf is close at hand on one side, and the promise of a dolphin sighting on the other side and I am alone in this place.  Except I am not alone.

I am in the heart place of a huge hearted clan.  For decades, these walls have held laughter, celebration, and the good of time spent with no agenda beyond pleasure seeking.  It has been a pilgrimage site for a family that has welcomed in new members with amazing grace and they too have come to know holding in this place.  And so I am here, marvelling at how it is family matters.

We give our hearts to relationships.  We say “yes” each day to the challenge and wonder of claiming kin – blood and heart, both.  We weave life with people and we make life with people and we widen the net to include others and the glory that is loving and living is made shining because we have the courage to take what we have and offer it in the hopes that it will bless another.  We have the audacity and courage to offer ourselves.  And we are taken up. 

Never are we alone.  The cloud of witnesses that make for our lives travels with and blesses us.  And that cloud of grace wraps sojourners and kin alike.  Sacred trust savored with gratitude.  I like it here.