Traditions: Strengthening Connections

By +Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka

The kid had been asking for weeks.

“We’re having breakfast pizza for Thanksgiving breakfast, right Mom?”

“Yes, honey. We are.” I assured him and made the mental list of the ingredients to pick up at the store.

It was the day before Thanksgiving, and I finally got it. The boy likes traditions. Yes, we only have breakfast pizza on Thanksgiving morning. But it’s more than the physical food he—and all of us—craves.

That time of togetherness, of our tradition of  five kernels of corn sitting on each plate, of sharing the things we’re most thankful for throughout the almost-spent year. These are the things he’s—and all of us are—craving.

That time of connecting, of laughing, of sharing.

The time of recollecting the unique memories made by our family in the past year.

Perhaps more for adopted children, and perhaps not, there’s a deep need for connection. To know they are loved and have a connection with a family they didn’t biologically come from.

We all are adopted into God’s family. We all have an inner yearning to connect with our Abba Daddy. We need to be able to laugh with each other about shared memories, to cry over the sad losses. Together.

Our Abba loves us more than we can understand. Just as our boys sometimes question if we really love them—if they really belong to us—don’t we do that with God . . . sometimes?

The God who created us, who crafted us, with pre-designed intents and purposes, before we ever breathed one breath.

Sometimes I forget I am loved. I long for that sense of connection with my Father. With others in my spiritual family. I reach out for it at times. Other times, God brings it to me.

The point is, we are hardwired with the need to connect. To know we are not alone or abandoned as we walk through our days. God created us this way. He desires connection with us, and He wants us to walk in interdependence upon Him and upon others.

It’s only when we relinquish the determination to walk through life as a lone ranger that we know the joy, the comfortable blanket of belonging.

That’s what the boy wanted when he asked about breakfast pizza. And that’s what I want each day I breathe upon this earth.

What about you? What special traditions bring you together with others? How do you stay connected with people in your life?