Kin

Kin. Images of family gathered in front of the fireplace playing a board game—this is what comes to mind. To be kin means you belong.

My kin include my husband and boys and our family members all over—but that’s not all.

Kin stretches wider. Kin includes those with whom I share a connection, an affinity, a relationship. 

My kin are my friends, the whole passel of them. They include my running partners, my phone call encouragers, my leadership team, my parenting peers.  They are my fellow Christ followers, the people on my tiny block, the high school girls I mentor, the refugees I’ve met, the folk in my town.

These are some of the most important people to whom I belong. They are mine.

But they are not enough. I am not completed by my kin.

Kinship is meant to grow, to be shared.

I’m always seeing new kinship opportunities. How can I connect to her, the stylish girl clothed in black whose dark eyes flash as she expertly cuts my hair? The tiny refugee grandmother from Nepal, wearing an embroidered shawl over her warmest sweater as she watches her grandson wiggle during story time.  The beautiful teenager who admits she struggles to find friends. My elderly neighbor, wobbling through my doorway at our annual Christmas party, wearing a smile.

I want to invite them to belong. To here, to warmth, to connection, to me—but most of all, to my Savior.

My heart desires kinship—for myself and for those with whom I come in contact each day.

This blog will be a safe place to explore how to do just that, how to create kinship. How to belong. 

It will be a collection of stories that challenge you, of stories that give hope.

Hope and Be.Longing.

Who can you add to your kin?

…and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all, as we do for you.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 ESV