Family

My big sister came to visit yesterday. She is nine years older than me and was very much like an Aunt to me in my early years. I remember her teaching me how to tie my shoes, fixing me my first bologna and cheese sandwich and digging the pebbles out of my forehead when I fell off the monkey bars and hit the playground asphalt face first! She was my babysitter, advisor and safety net until she celebrated her 18th birthday by moving away from home. She became a nurse, mother of four and grandmother of two spunky little boys (so far). And she's still my sister.

Until about 8 hours ago, I was convinced that she and I are very different from each other. Truthfully, our lives have turned out differently. She has a much better connection with our extended family than I do, she is way more confident when making decisions than I am, our kids interact with us very differently...I could go on and on. Since she left this morning, however, I am more surprised by our similarities. We are both passionate about what God tells us in His word, deeply committed to our families, love to talk, love movies that make us cry...I could go on and on. What I realized is that if I want to place distance between my sister and I because we are so different from each other, I could definitely do that. If I want to stay close to her, however, by focusing instead on those things that make us similar, I could make a case for that as well.

The same could be said for any member of our adopted family in Christ. We can choose to focus on those aspects that make us different or those that make us similar. The latter will unite us, the former will divide us. The choice is ours.

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. Ephesians 4:3, nlt