Louise's mom died when she was 15 years old, but a powerful bond still lives in her heart today. I tell her how life's going and tell her how much I miss her. I know it sounds crazy, and I don't tell many people about it, but it gives me great comfort. Ordinary words don't do this bond justice, and in developing our model of family strengths, we decided to use the words spiritual well-being to describe this sacred connection. Years ago we talked about religion as a family strength, but our thinking evolved and the term spiritual well-being seems to work better.
People tend to associate the term religion with institutions and doctrine.
For many people, these associations are quite positive. For others, the term conjures up negative images, often going back to childhood. Besides, the term religion isn't really broad enough to describe what strong family members have been describing to us through twentysomething years of research. Some families talk about faith in God, faith in life, faith in loved ones. They tell us that they are generally hopeful about life and believe that, in a broad sense, life works out pretty well for them.