Tend to relationships

Last Friday I wrote that I was attending my cousin's funeral (six months after he fell on the ice while retrieving the Sunday paper on their driveway, suffering severe head trauma in the fall). As I said in that blog, this was a huge reminder to me that life can change on a dime.

At the graveside service following the funeral, the pastor reminded us all of the same thing. He urged us to tend our relationships. If we have any grudges and disagreements, any things we need to forgive or for which we need forgiveness, take care of that, he said. Forgive others. Reconcile. Speak words of love. Be kind to others. Don't let things fester.

After the graveside service, some of us in the family talked about what great words those were. We all need to hear that. It's so easy to get caught up in drama, to carry resentments, to take offense (often at things that in the long run are relatively inconsequential)—and in the busyness of our lives, to forget the "good stuff." We forget to thank others, to say the "I love you's" and the words of appreciation and admiration. We don't always forgive easily.

I want to remember the words we heard last Friday—and tend to the lovely garden of relationships with which I'm blessed. How about you?