Family Picnic: A Metaphor for Family Life

Our Family Picnic Trophy

Every summer for the last 6 years my family has come together for a family picnic.

It started out as a simple get together with uncles, aunts & cousins for a picnic lunch and a few games for the children. Now it has transformed into an all out tournament day, complete with self named teams, team shirts, games that accumulate points and a trophy for the winning team. At the end of the day, a name is drawn for the host of next year’s picnic.

At first, the idea of playing games sounds like a fun way to spend the day. We’re entertained, we’re being active and we are working with our teams to put our best foot forward. Add points and a trophy to the mix and now you have a full blown competition.

Some say competition is good for the soul. When my family begins to challenge the method of accumulating points, or the rules set out for the individual games I struggle to see the benefit of competition. It can get pretty heated, and no longer seems like fun.

It is interesting that when the games are finished and we have awarded the trophy to the winning team, we settle down to enjoy each other’s company. With the competition out of the way, we share a few laughs as we review the day’s events.

At last month’s family picnic the hosts ended the day with a short slideshow of pictures from previous picnics. For some of us, myself included this spawned a few tears as the pictures included family members who have passed away.

So in the end, this tradition allows us to come together, share our best abilities in the games, allows some to show their frustrations as we compete for first place. We share a few disagreements, a few laughs and maybe even a few tears. After all, isn’t that what family is all about?

In many ways, this day is a metaphor for family life in general. We can strategize as a team on how we plan to win, some games prove to be quite a challenge for us, and the strategy fails us. Other times we are victorious and happily celebrate the win with our team. Throughout the day, we share more than laughs and memories; we share our food and our skills, our concerns and our prayers. We even cry a few tears.

But most importantly we forgive each other’s failings. I believe in family, as in any relationship, forgiveness is the cement. We are all individuals, differing in personalities, skills, education, and for some we even in differ in our beliefs and faith life. No matter where we are coming from, being able to forgive each other is what keeps us together. By not harboring anger or resentment we are able to have fun together and enjoy each other’s company.

More of Tima’s musings can be found at Living Water.