Thanksgiving Hugs

I'm really not into themed post, but seeing as this is more of a journal of personal thoughts, I guess that is just another contradiction in my life.

We had thanksgiving with family. Not my immediate family but my wife's family. It great to be with them. It is such a bigger family then I'm accustomed too. We only had like 25 people this year and they acted like the house was empty.

It is funny because I'm at the point with Erin's family where I have been accepted. They know what I do for a living. They know who I root for in sports. They know I'm not a country boy like most of them. But what they don't know is whether or not to hug me. I'll be honest I'm a hugger. I go in for the real deal every chance I get. It never fails that I guess wrong too. Some people I'm not sure like hugs so I try to be respectful, but I would hug a random stranger if they'd let me. With Erin's family though I feel accepted and loved I'm still shakey on hugging status.

It is amazing to me that the church often works the same way. We do a great job of helping and knowing a few facts about people. We might even share a meal with people. But there is always a "hugging status" that we don't want to infringe upon. And then there are some people like from the town I'm from who come in hugging like junkies looking for hugs from who ever will awkwardly suffer through the experience.

I believe the ability to know when to give "hugs" comes from the spirit. I had a friend tell me we don't tap into that enough. I agree. What if we looked at people and ask God's spirit to give us a message for a certain relationship. What if we tapped into the light that needed to be shined on a person at that very moment of "to hug or not to hug." I love that Erin's family and church didn't give a prerequisite to joining the family except to come through the Father.

This might be a little more metaphorical than needed to be, but the holidays will do that to yah. I would like to look at people as an opportunity for the spirit to work and move and breathe.