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Like fiber artists, writers are people who like to pull disparate material together; solitary strands, swatches, and twists take on new meaning when woven, pieced, or braided together for a purpose. In fiber art, that purpose might be to clothe, decorate, or inspire. In story, writers work with words and images to endless purpose—to entertain, inform, shock, arouse…it’s a long list.

The material for my writing comes from strands of conversation, swatches of family history and the twists and turns of daily life. In my novel, The Sheep Walker, my purpose is to explore how abandoning the process of maintaining relationships affects the succeeding generations of a fictional family.

A family is a work of art that consists of individuals who are “knit together in constant affection.” I pulled that phrase from The Book of Common Prayer. In the Prayers and Thanksgivings section, the prayer for families credits God with setting the solitary in families and commends to God’s care the homes in which his people dwell.

Affection—fond attachment, devotion or love—is the attribute that glues families together. Like art, it’s a process. God’s purpose for families are parents and children whose hearts enkindle “fervent charity among us all.” Peace in the home, it seems, extends to a charitable outlook toward the family of man.

The prayer concludes “…that we may evermore be kindly affectioned one to another; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” It sounds so benign but there is much drama in how we achieve that state, if ever we can on this earth, and therein lies a story.