Family

This weekend we have the honor of hosting family - cousins on the Italian side. They have come from Illinois and Texas to Arizona to visit their father. They could have made arrangements for other accommodations - we insisted that we have plenty of room at our place here and would love to have them also visit us - happily they agreed. Having time to share memories - now as adults - gives us an opportunity to fill in the blanks - answer unasked questions - get to know them much better as a smaller group. We do have an annual reunion - BonviniFest - in which all  the relatives on my mother's side come together to play bocce - bean bags - eat Italian foods - desserts - enjoy the weather outside - as a group of maybe one hundred. In that setting - very hard to have meaningful conversation - so this weekend we relish this time together - more one on one time.

All of us belong to the family of God - we are related to each other through God's plan for the world. He created us as male and female - gave us gifts - abilities to do awesome - wonderful things. He gave us bodies to perform physical tasks - minds with intellect - to understand - explore - discover - His greatest gift - Free Will. Although a family - we are all individuals - our own spirit - hopes - desires. We have the freedom to do whatever we will - hopefully keeping others in mind when we consider the affect - outcome - of our actions. We embody the cultures of the world - many different skin colors - languages - customs - very different - yet connected to each other by God's design. We are neighbors - friends - cousins - we are family.

Deacon Dale