Sunday, July 7, 2013

In Praise of Godcousins

I posted this photo on my facebook page with the caption: Gabe with one of his Godcousins, Emma — in Bled, Bohinj.  My friend Keith asked: What is a godcousin??

  
Our children's Godcousins hold a special place in our hearts. These children, all of whom happen to be girls, who range in age from 17 to 5. They are the daughters our children's Godparents.



When it came time to baptize our children, Greg and I thought long and hard about who their Godparents would be. We wanted adults who not only would model Christ, but also who would be likely to commit to a lifelong relationship with our sons. We chose well; the boys consider their Godparents an integral part of our family and those Godcousins are family, too.

Tonight we had a Godmother and her family and a Godfather and his family over to welcome our son home from his European travels. Emma, a violist and one of his Godcousins, was on the tour too. We got to see some photos of their travels.  It occurred to me that in addition to building lifelong relationships with their Godparents, our sons are also benefiting from the steady friendships of their Godcousins.


2 comments:

  1. We have a family of God children. Our families are very close. Miguel's God mother has two sons who are close in age to our kids and they are like cousins to our kids. I love the idea of forming a God family with the God parents and God children in our lives!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's delicious. When my husband and I were growing up, the trend was to pick people merely to stand in at the baptismal ceremony. At least in our families, there was no expectation of any role beyond that. We wanted to cultivate a more meaningful connection for our sons. I am so grateful we did.

      Delete