How Family Rituals Feed Our Soul and Teach Us the Richness of Everyday Life
- Renee Rawlins Sande
- Sep 27, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 8, 2024
I'm not exactly sure when it started, but I do remember that it was long enough ago that if I had given a heart-shaped rock to my son, he probably would've tried to eat it. So I gave it to my daughter, a few years wiser.
My kids were raised on beaches and water, and hunting for rocks was (and still is) always part of the adventure: who could find the smoothest rock, the prettiest rock, the rock that looked like something else - and then one day, there it was - a heart-shaped rock, with a light of its own, lying there like a key to the universe.
So I picked it up, rubbed my thumb over its smoothed edges a couple times and realized it wasn't mine to keep (few things are when you're a mom). So, hand outstretched, I called my daughter over, and as I watched her sweet eyes - filled with the love of the world - light up, I let the moment sink in, thanking God for the gazillionth time for trusting me with one of his A-list angels. (FYI - while our egos might lead us to believe it's all about us leading them, they were sent to be our guiding lights, to help us realize that our capacity to love is more than we ever thought possible.)
And so it began; a heart became our favorite rock to find - our ritual of capturing a moment, making a memory - like a canoe-shaped or tiger-striped rock couldn't compare. And it reinforced for me just how family traditions feed our soul and teach us the richness of everyday life.
Since then, like most good things, it has grown to become something bigger. Instead of just seeing heart-shaped rocks at the beach, we started seeing them peeking through the weeds, embedded in a dirt trail, or somewhere completely unexpected.
The day it really hit me as to how this thing had bloomed was the day I was putting the lid back on my water bottle and with the light catching it just right, I saw a heart. As I took a picture to send to my daughter, I realized, that not only had this ritual reminded me to be thankful for our special bond, it had taught me to look for beauty in a world where sometimes it's not always easy to find.
So I took the next step and gave thanks for the bottle of water, that I have access to clean water, that I can afford to buy a bottle of water if I need it. Through my love for my daughter, I had learned a life lesson: that showing gratitude for the things we daily take for granted makes this beautiful life so much richer and helps us to realize that love is everywhere - if you look for it. Sometimes we just have to adjust our lens to see it.
By the way, for those of you who are thinking my son got short-changed and must be in therapy by now, wondering why he's not included in this lovely little exchange (believe me, there will be plenty of posts inspired by his infectious, goofy spirit and big heart), he could care less as long as I give him regular back rubs, during which we take time out to connect and talk about life, which we've been doing since he was young enough to try to eat rocks.
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