The Blessing of Siblings
My brother Steve and I had a nice chat yesterday morning. Siblings are a precious blessing. Steve and I grew up in a little family of four. He is my only brother and I his only sister. I have always cherished my “little brother” and do even more so now that both our parents are gone.
With a daddy who loved to go, we two spent uncountable hours together in the back seat of the family car, first a big used Plymouth, then a new little Ford Falcon, and finally, a new VW bus. One favorite activity was our unending singing game. Steve would start a song and hold the last note until I could think of a new one to start. Then I would hold the last note until he thought of a new one to start. On and on we went. It was like the balloon game when you keep a balloon in the air without letting it touch the ground. We kept a song in the air. The amazing thing is that I don’t remember Mother and Daddy ever asking us to please think of something quieter to do.
I often remind you of the blessings of homeschooling. One of those blessings is the time your children get to spend together. Though children (and often parents) don’t realize it at the time, childhood friendships too often come and go. Carefully nurtured sibling relationships can be blessings for a lifetime. Thank you for giving your children the opportunity to make those sibling bonds strong and for providing so many memories for them to share together.
Family bonds are strong. When God inspired Paul to write his first letter to Timothy, He used family imagery to explain how Timothy should treat the brothers and sisters in his fellowship.
Do not sharply rebuke an older man,
but rather appeal to him as a father,
and to the younger men as brothers,
to the older women as mothers,
and to the younger women as sisters, in all purity.
1 Timothy 5:1-2