Opening Up

A Thanksgiving Gratitude Series

Many of the students with whom I work, and their families, are facing heartbreaking situations. They have family members who are terminally ill, or their family structures have broken down due to addiction and/or divorce or death or other significant losses. In some instances, their communication and attachment to each other have been severely damaged for years. By all statistical measures, these students are at high risk for permanent damage and family estrangement.

I am profoundly grateful that many of these students and families are opening up, allowing me to bear witness to their pain, and are putting in the hard work to re-establish lines of communication and strategies to move past illness and addiction and toward recovery and health. Through them, I continually get to see both God’s presence in our lives and the knowledge that the human spirit and capacity for healing are stronger than any obstacles that life may bring.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary Burkart