Family + Community = ‘Ohana - May 14

‘Ohana is the Hawaiian term that encompasses family, community, and love. It can refer to your biological family or loved ones who are like relatives. It’s the most beautiful way to describe what I have experienced with my relatives and friends in Hawai‘i and beyond. It embodies the organic formation of a village, even in our contemporary lives. An English term might be “framily.” 

These committed relationships are a great strength of the AAPI community. We hail from cultures that make decisions with others in mind and consider their impact. These are the folks that you break bread with, you housesit for, you pick up at the airport; the people who stay up all night with you during a crisis, the ones who know your faults and love you anyway. People you seek out for wisdom. In turn, it enables you to take risks and note things that may be unseen to them, but harmful. This sense of connection is also God’s great gift of family to those who’ve had broken relationships with their families of origin.

Eastertide celebrates the resurrection of Christ and new creation. We see it in nature and in our loved ones. Newness also calls from within, inviting our souls to seek new beginnings – perhaps areas of our lives that need more light to move forward. Places that only your tribe can bring to your attention and subsequently, your illumination. 

As you meditate upon this theme, who is your “family?” How can we be family to each other in unlikely situations?

Thank you, God, for my ‘ohana and how they are extensions of you.