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Families are for learning joy; the joy of young voices in laughter; the joy of first questions and the searching for answers;
The joy of bedtime stories and adventures in the woods in the spring, when green new life, pushing through the dead leaves, teaches hope.
Families are for learning the give and take of sharing things, like bikes and ties and party dresses and also chores and feelings.
Families are for building attitudes so necessary for living together in the community.
Families are for learning how to meet and know sorrow and tradgedy; and for bearing the lowliness of long separations, the hardships, the disappointments, and the anxieties and fears that time and distance make so real.
Families are for holidays and holy days, for birthdays and annivarsaries.
But most of all families are for everyday; so that young people growing up can learn what it is to belong to something; from which, if they give of themselves, they can learn more than they will ever need.
Families are for Learning, Words of Worship, 209.