Family First

Today I met my granddaughter at the public library. We both love books! This picture of her, taken at 6 months, has graced my laptop as wallpaper for the past two years. She is aptly named Haley Grace. It is because of grace that I even know her. Grace - that amazing meld of unconditional love and uncompromised forgiveness - has been a key force in my life, grace both given and received! To hear the spontaneous and unsolicited words: "I love you Pop-pop", as she cuddled up next to me at lunch, really brought that home!

Haley seems to grasp the concept that Hannah is my daughter as well as her mother - no small accomplishment for someone who has not yet turned three! It is the time that Hannah was about Haley's age that keeps coming up for me . . . for it was then that I began my torturous exit from our home and, for a time, from her daily life. Thanks to grace I get another chance, though it would be many years and many deposits into her 'emotional bank account' (as defined by Stephen Covey in his book 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People') until Hannah and I could know again what Haley and I know now. Today Hannah is willing to trust me in building a relationship with her own daughter and I am in awe!

Since July, Haley Grace has been in Sarasota! Her family moved back here from rural Georgia, and what they lost in small town charm and community they have gained in grandparents! Our family is the single most influential life connection that we will ever have. Not that it's always a good thing - it just is! Most of the internal struggles that we go through - of identity, value, confidence, image and purpose - are full of familial fuel, energy that can be simultaneously positive and negative.

Grace, that positive energy that wells up from roots firmly connected to the source of unconditional love that is the essence of the universe, is at work in my life. It has restored my soul and leads me on paths of authentic living. It allows me unfettered connection to the lives of my daughter and her child. Faith that we, as humankind, are connected to one another and all that is has been the greatest comfort and inspiration to me as I face the challenges of living my life with honesty in the 21st Century.

Faith is no good unless it is your own. It cannot be adopted from another or assimilated by osmosis or taught with a ruler! It has to be personally experienced if it is to provide strength in times of trial, failure and defeat. Defined as 'the evidence of things unseen' it is , to me, the foundation on which I build the rest of my life. I know that I am not alone. I know that my journey of life is inextricably bound up with the journeys of others and for that awareness, as for the rest of my present circumstances, I am exceedingly thankful!

Will I spoil Haley Grace? Impossible! Genuine, unconditional love will put up with anything, always believe the best and never give up! It will not be selfish or judgemental. It will be full of grace and it will always put others - we are all one family - first!

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be an enduring influence in the life of Haley Grace! May we always be thankful for those that come into our lives and may we give grace as much, and more, as we are aware of it being given to us!

Love and Peace - Geoff