Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Siblings Day


Siblings Day

Recently we celebrated National Siblings Day. I don’t remember ever hearing about that holiday before, so someone probably thought it up since April 10 of last year! Regardless, it is still not a bad thing to celebrate.

Siblings are those relationships that you didn’t ask for. Well, maybe you did ask for a brother or sister when you were a little kid, but you really didn’t know the implications of your request! For most of us, we were just born into a family that gave us brothers or sisters and we had no say about it ~ no chance to choose. Which is probably good, since at that age we might not have chosen very wisely.

My parents brought me home and introduced me to my sister, and while I don’t remember that day, I suspect we were pretty taken with each other. We still are.

To be honest, we fought a lot and frustrated each other a good bit when we were growing up and sharing a bedroom. With our age difference, we were on two different playing fields. I kept violating the rules on her field, and we were surely a source of frustration and disappointment to each other on many occasions.

But time has created a memory gap of all those times, and I remember mostly good things from those ten years when we slept under the same roof. She was always the one I looked up to and tried to emulate. If she did something a certain way, I copied it. If she had a favorite song or movie, I adopted it for myself. She set the standard for me in all things, and even as a young wife and mother, I still watched to see which way she stepped before taking my own tentative steps into adulthood.

Sometimes I rebelled and determined to go the opposite direction from her just to prove that I could. But in the end, she has influenced me in all things from the time we were just kids until the present.

I’m glad God picked her to be my sister. When she was only eight years old, she rose to the occasion and worked hard to be a good big sister. She still does. Our bond is tight, and despite the other relationships in our lives that come and go, she will always be my big sister. I love her, and I know God chose her just for me.

If you have a sister, call her right now to tell her you love and appreciate her! You may not always have that chance.