Traveling Together, Part 1
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Life is designed for companionship, not isolation; for intimacy, not loneliness. Our lives begin that way, don’t they? When we enter the world our parents become our first travel companions through life, and our relationship with them is our first exposure to intimacy. And even though tiny infants may be helpless and totally dependent on their parents, their relationship is one of cooperation, of the parents’ understanding of the child’s needs and the child developing trust and intimacy with the parents.
We’ve enjoyed observing this relationship between our two little granddaughters and their parents, especially as they have begun to walk. Walking, you see, is not something the parents can influence or control. Children have to do it on their own and the parents have to allow that to be. They can encourage, support and catch them when they fall, but they can’t teach it or force it. It’s sort of like watching an egg hatch. You know it’s going to occur, and probably soon, but you don’t know when. Toddlers learning to walk are like birds hatching, you know it’s going to happen, but only when they are darn well ready – and not minute before.
Toddlers do not need their parents to walk for them, otherwise they would never walk. What they need are travel companions, someone to encourage and support them, and to catch them when they fall.
That’s what companionship is all about as we travel together through life, for “two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.”
More about traveling together next week . . . .