Tuesday, September 10, 2013

...a time for embracing

A Lexicon of Hugs

     In the South, people hug. Regularly. And, depending on the occasion, the strength and duration of the hug will vary. Here is my short list of hugology:

The Greeting Hug- "I am glad to see you!"

The Obligatory Hug- "Oh, ok."

The Congratulatory Hug- "Well done!"

The Celebratory Hug- "This is a Good Day!"

The Comforting Hug- "You are not alone."

and, of course, there is the hug shared between man and wife; a hug that encapsulates decades of memories and says, "We are in this together."


     Saturday I extended the entire list, a busy day for hugs. Two of my hugs were for fathers. One father was grieving over the death of his young son, the other was rejoicing over the marriage of his son- a morning funeral and an evening wedding...

hugs remind me to be grateful for arms.


Is there a right time for everything?
There seems to be time for every kind of activity under the sun: 
time to be born and time to die,
time for planting, time for weeding out what was planted,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
time to break down and time to build up,
time to weep and time to laugh,
a time of mourning, and a time of dancing around,
time to throw stones and time to pick up stones,
a time for embracing
and a time to keep yourself far away from embracing

Ecclesiastes 3:1-5
Translated by Calvin Seerveld
Voicing God's Psalms

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