I started watching the TV show “Parenthood” from the very beginning, when it first aired. Then, years later, in the midst of the final season, Kevin said he wanted to watch it, so we binge-watched the entire thing from beginning to end. I watched the final episode with Emmie, while I was in Florida, then again, with Kevin, about a week later.
The emotional devastation was real. Both times, REAL.
What is it about that show? They are just characters, after all, playing members of a fictional family called the Bravermans. They struggle, and they have meltdowns. They fight, and have financial problems. There is sibling rivalry, and parental strife. And they mess up. All of them, in one way or another.
But you know what else? They root for each other. They sacrifice and compromise. They forgive and make up. And they always have a hand out to pull the other up and out of their mess. There is an underlying familial bond that always prevails.
Always.
It’s real life played out on a fictional stage, and it’s captivating, because they could just as easily be your own family on a non-fictional one.
Or maybe you want them to be, because there is a quality to the dynamic of the Bravermans that even the best families may be lacking.
Togetherness.
They gather to celebrate every victory, and to support after any defeat. They eat together. They play together.
They are for each other.
It helps, of course, that they all live in the same town. But still, there is an intentionality that I believe we could all incorporate into our families, even if we are far-flung one from another. And if we don’t have family near by, or at all? We have to remember we are part of a greater family…
The human race.
Though we differ and fight, struggle and mess up, we can choose to sacrifice and compromise, holding out a hand to pull another out of their mess.
We can forgive, root for each other, be for each other.
We can choose togetherness in a world constantly pulling us apart.
We can choose love.
Thank you, Parenthood, for the beautiful reminder. You will be missed, but I hope we’ll carry on the torch.
I really, truly do.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ~ Colossians 3:12-14 ESV