“Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’”
--Genesis 4: 8-9
“And the Lord said to (Rebekah), ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided…’”
--Genesis 25: 23
“Now (Jacob) loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.”
--Genesis 37: 3-4
As a young child, I put my older sister, Jodi, up on a pedestal and she could do no wrong. Shortly after I learned to walk, I followed her around and did everything she did, idolizing her with every step. Jodi fell from my good graces as I entered adolescence.
I remember an evening when Jodi told my parents that I had been smoking with my friends. I retaliated a few nights later when I noticed her parked on the dirt road behind our house with her boyfriend, and told Mother. As teenagers, it seemed we always competed for our parents’ approval and for the use of the family car for those Saturday night outings with our friends. But my greatest challenge through all those years was...
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Thoughts to Ponder/Points for Discussion
- What is your relationship with your siblings? Do you remember something from your childhood that could be the root cause of your feelings for them, good or bad?
- Conflicts with family members seem to occur often and small hurts can grow into cancerous tumors when unattended. What can you do to improve a relationship that has gone sour within your family?
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