Staying close to your siblings?
I’ve been starting a lot of conversations on this topic lately. I’m finding, sadly, that when it comes to sibling relationships, a lot of us don’t expect much once we no longer live under the family roof. That’s too bad. It turns out that many of us think our siblings are terrific people, yet we find our relationships limited for the most part to small talk at extended family gatherings. With the addition of spouses and children, there are always lots of people around when we get together, and it’s busy.
My husband recently met his brother for dinner just the two of them, and they talked for hours. He said it was the longest they’d talked since they lived at home as teens. But back then the dialogue was more along the lines of “Your breath stinks! Move over!” They are now ages 40 and 42, and he valued this visit differently.
I was a mean big sister to my little bro. I called him names, put him down, and pushed him away every chance I got –I suppose it was due to my own insecurities and desire to keep friends and activities to myself. When we were both in our early 20’s though, I missed him. Really missed him. I couldn’t believe what a great guy he’d become, and probably had been all along while I missed it due to being enormously self-absorbed.
My friend Ruth makes a point to spend time with family members one-on-one when she visits, and I asked her about this recently. She’ll go to their home or workplace or their kids’ activities, rather than just relying on them seeing her in the big group at mom and dad’s. She pointed out that sibling relationships are on average the longest lasting relationships that we have–longer on average than Read more
From the prayer tree
In my last post I was getting ready for Halifax Earth Day. I brought along a ”prayer tree” and some clothespins, inviting people to post a prayer for Creation, in thanks or in hope. I had hoped that at least a few would participate and I was thrilled that many actually did. Below are some of the prayers that were posted, without names and omitting those of a more personal nature.
A word about the tree: the young red bud tree cut down for this project came from a farmer’s fence row. If you know farmers–particularly Red Bank Hudson farmers– then you know that a tree along a fence row is out of place and would have to be dispatched with eventually. Thanks to my father-in-law for the set-up, Laura for the idea, Jenny and Sharron for encouraging me to be part of the event. Photos are from the Halifax Earth Day facebook page.
A drawing and a winner: After the Earth Day event I decided to have a drawing for a free individual session among the people who came by my table and left their names. Congratulations to Linda Unroe of South Boston: I am putting something in the mail to you.
And now for the PRAYERS. Some are from children so I left the spelling and grammer natural/as written. Thanks, everybody, for coming by and participating. God bless each one of you abundantly. You are invited to post more prayers or comments at the end.
Please let us be good stewards of your creation!- Pray for our world and protect it please.
- grow big and blom pretty flowers. For the world.
- Prayer for a cleaner place to play
- Thank you God for a B E A U T I F U L Spring– May we conserve our world for our future
- Dear God, thank you for this great world you’ve given us. Please guide us to take care of it, and each other. Amen.
- Pray for our future generations to Read more