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For almost fifteen years, Sevilla and I were unable to get together with my family. (All the members of her family are dead.) Either we were living in Tennessee while they were in Michigan or my younger sister was in Arizona. Schedules didn't seem to mesh but as the day neared when we were to depart for California, the Lord impressed me that it was time to have a family reunion.
We were living in Frankfort Michigan and they were in Grand Rapids, about 150 miles apart. While my older sister, Beverily, had visited us, my younger sister, Priscilla, for financial reasons, could not make the trip north. We, of course, were restricted by our inability to drive while simple inertia and neglect prevented me from making concerted efforts to visit them. However, with our projected move, the Holy Spirit seemed to impress me that this might be the last opportunity to see them. As the days past, the impression grew that we must make the efforts to visit them.
I called Beverily and invited ourselves to stay over night at her house. She was thrilled with the prospect that we might be able to get together. She is a family oriented person, cherishing the family relationship while I tend to under value family affections due to earlier problems with my mother who sexually abused me and my father who couldn't cope with the idea of a less then perfect son. However, they had died several years earlier and I was attempting to change my bad attitudes through frequent phone contacts with my sisters. Also, I had never seen my two nephews who were now twelve and thirteen years old, nor had I meat Mike, Priscilla's husband. Therefore, it seemed appropriate that I rectify my omissions and visit them.
Traveling long distances is quite an under taking for us. We secured the cooperation of two friends on the Frankfort side, one to take us to the Traverse City bus terminal and one to pick us up when we returned, but the trip was pleasant and both of my sisters meat us at the bus station in Grand Rapids.
We enjoyed a pleasant two days visiting with my sisters, renewing old acquaintances and memories, meeting Mike, Priscilla's husband and her two boys. There wasn't anything special that marked the occasion, although we felt the love of the Holy Spirit was present. There wasn't any raucous laughter, beer or smoking to mar the occasion. Priscilla was proud to show off her new house and Beverily bemoaned her hearing loss. Priscilla had changed so much since the last time I had seen her that I would not have recognized her had she not accompanied Beverily to the bus station.
We have since moved to California but this experience, brief though it may have been, was immensely satisfying to all of us. (It is better to make short family visits then extended ones and risk the displeasure of over staying our welcome.)
This reunion was a providential blessing from the Lord for it gave us an opportunity to witness to Priscilla who is not yet firmly established in the faith of the Lord and gave them an opportunity to become better acquainted with Sevilla, whom they knew only vaguely. Twenty years ago, while Mother and Dad were still alive, when we visited Beverily, the family reunions were characterized by separation. Dad would hide behind his newspaper, Beverily would fix mother's hair, Priscilla would sunbath at the lake, while Beverily's husband would putter around with his boat or disappear altogether. Sevilla and I were left alone to twiddle our thumbs. As I would not leave her along in silence and isolation, I failed to see the value in these family get-together, but this time, we had all matured and could tolerate each other's presence and even enjoyed conversing together. This is a testament to the Lord's ability to change the character of those who are willing to submit to this process. Praise the Lord!
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