To Understand and Be Understood

There is a German Proverb that says, "To understand and to be understood makes our happiness on earth."

She sat looking at his picture a smile gently tugging at the corners of her lips. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly and then she began to reminisce. He had been gone for many years but when she talked about him it was as if he was with us in the room.

I spent a lot of my childhood Summers with my aunt and uncle so I shared one of my own memories. I told how as a child he would take me on rides through the mountains and use a spotlight so I could see the deer. He would shake his head and say, "Aren't they beautiful!"  "Yes,' she said, 'That's was your Uncle Chuck. He loved nature."

Aunt Angie not only loved Uncle Chuck she understood him. Uncle Chuck was a big man with a gentle soul. One time when his melancholy gave way to depression Aunt Angie responded by buying him an accordion. All these years latter sitting in the kitchen with my aunt I could almost close my eyes and see him sitting there tapping his foot with the music. Playing the accordion seemed like a full body exercise to me when I was a little girl and oh how it filled the house with music!

Because of Uncle Chuck's depression it was often hard for him to hold down a job and Aunt Angie worked nights. Aunt Angie's life wasn't easy but all my childhood memories of Aunt Angie include laughter. She loved, understood and respected Uncle Chuck and he returned the favor. "To understand and to be understood makes our happiness on earth." It makes for a happy family as well.

Lord, You told older women to teach younger women how to love their husbands and their children. Thank You for Aunt Angie who taught me by her life.