Teamwork

It has been interesting, sometimes painfully so, working through the ramifications of my Dad's death.  It has been a learning curve that is painfully steep, I sometimes feel like I have been emotionally thrown at a brick wall and that is the curve I am supposed to climb.  As my siblings and I work together in a totally different capacity it has been revealing of all of us how we think and work.  All of us are very competent people.  All of us bring different backgrounds, experiences, jobs, thoughts, ideas and strengths and weaknesses to the table.  As we sort through things and jobs, life, memories, time, and events it is intriguing to watch how much different we are and yet at the core our beliefs and values are the same.  We all value and deeply love our families.  We all have a deep faith in God and a Hope in Him as well.  These are the core values that are the same in each of us.  But as a team we have many strengths and some differences in how we live out those values.  How our past and our experiences impact our worldview is an observation we don't always think about but is interesting to watch and experience.  After living overseas and in a culture I didn't always understand I find that I extend a lot of grace.  I give people totally the benefit of the doubt.  Especially if they are people I love and trust.  People I know have my best interest in mind.  If I don't understand why someone says something I try to look at the comment or action from their perspective and understand it.  If I still don't understand then I go to them and ask.  I want and seek to understand their perspective.  I think this comes from so many times not really understanding why someone did or said something that to me did not make sense coming from a different culture.  Culture is always an interesting study, even in your own there are differences and similarities, understandings and misunderstandings, words taken wrong and right.  Love and truth spoken and demonstrated though are always the knots that tie us together as a family as a unit and as a team.