Traveling the Rock Road

“Being Brother and Sister means being there for each other”

This is a picture of my Grandson Blaine and his sister and my Granddaughter Hailey Jo.  These two can fight like cats and dogs, aggravating the fire out of each other, one minute, and then the next be each other’s biggest fan.  There was a time I would have branded this type of behavior strange; perhaps abnormal would be a better descriptive.  But after seeing the relationship my kids had with each other (and lived to tell about it!), I’ve come to realize this is just part of growing up.  You see, my Lady and I have the rare distinction of both being only children and based on that premise, we had little understanding on the interaction of siblings.  It’s like anything else in life, you can get a glimpse of what goes on, but unless you’re apart of it you really can’t grasp the whole reality of the situation, which brings me to my story.

The year was 1996, our daughter Jamie was a sophomore in high-school, Jeremy, our oldest son was in the 8^th grade and Justin Michael was a 7^th grader.  The Miller household had come to that terrifying moment in history, three teenagers under the same roof!  When they weren’t adding gray hairs to my scalp, they were attacking each other with some sort of taunt or cutting remark.  I expressed to a friend my concern for their relationship to each other and my thankfulness I didn’t keep firearms in the house, sometimes fearing how high the hostility could escalate.  My friend, knowing my ignorance of “normal” family settings and sibling rivalry assured me that I had nothing to worry about.  I’d like to send my kids over to see how well yours get along.  Compared to our house this is Happy Acres!  “But I know mine will be alright just like I know yours will.  They may not always agree now and for the rest of their lives, but they will be each others biggest fan, you watch and see.”  Several nights later I got a glimpse of what he was talking about.  Coming home one evening from being gone, I passed a group of teens in a parking lot in what seemed to be a heated exchange, with at least a couple of them.  It didn’t register at first but then it hit me, two of those teens were mine.  Exercising my “parental prerogative to snoop,” I circled back at the next block and came up the back way to the parking lot.  What was being played out was Jeremy was out with a couple of his buddies when these four, older teens, accosted them.  One of the older teens has some beef with Jer’s friend and just like typical “bullies” these four older and bigger boys were planning on cleaning up the parking lot with my son and his pals.  Just one set back for the fearsome foursome they hadn’t planned on.  “It’s a bird!  It’s a Plane!  Nope, it’s one big sister seeing her little brother (who by that time in life was a good 4’ inches taller than her) and she was hacked!  Jane Dandy to the rescue Jack!  Now try to vision what’s being played out at that moment, you’ve got 4 boys, average age 16, facing off with my 100 lb soaking wet daughter.  Behind her stands the other three boys who’s ages were 14, not saying a thing and I believe doing a little praying that their very excited and loud heroine was going to defuse this situation, and nearly all of them were taller that Jamie Melissa! The confrontation went on for some time with Jamie and one of the older boys doing all the yelling while the remaining six chose to keep quiet.  He was telling her what he planned to do and my dynamite charged daughter assuring him that wasn’t going to happen in this life time!  Maybe the proper parental thing I should have done was come out of my secluded spot and break up this melee.  If the fur started flying I could get there pretty quick, but for now all I could do was sit with a grin on my face, listening to Jamie out shout this guy and thinking to myself, “You four tough guys might want to consider getting some more help!”

“To the outside world, we all grow old.  But not to brothers and sisters.  We know each other as we always were.  We know each other’s hearts.  We share private family jokes.  We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  We live outside the touch of time.” And out of all of that grows an incredible love; Awesome!!

My children are no longer children, two are in their 30s and the last is just a step away.  They have gone separate ways, each to his or her life’s direction, with each being different from the others, just like when they were kids.  Still today, they may not always agree with each other or like the same things, but they have that one common thread running in them, they are family and nothing or no one will ever take that from them.  They are each others strongest critic, and they are each others biggest fan. It is because they know each other so well that these attributes exist, yet it is because of this knowledge, this understanding that no one else possesses the way they do, the way only a brother or sister can possess that their love is without conditions and endless.

That’s what I’ve found so appealing about the Christian life; I have a family that cares for me.  There are ones who know in a very special way, all the good, the bad and the ugly; yet love and care for me, as I do them.  It’s unfortunate that I say not all in my belief system extend charity (love) as what is handed down in the Word of God.  I can’t speak for them, I can only talk about the ones who do pursue the act of love, the act of family set forth in the Bible, and oh my, there are many!  I know they love me, not by word, but by action.  They stand in the gap as my Jamie Melissa did for her brother, only they do it with continued prayer.  Show me someone who is praying for me and I’ll show you someone who cares for me, loves me–family!

Here are some verses I hope you’ll take a moment to read this week that give a picture of what I’m saying:  Philippians2:1-4, Romans 12:10, and of course 1^st Corinthians 13:1-13.

I see a lot of my kids in my grandchildren; one generation, with the way they fought and turned my hair gray, while the next is making it fall out with their bickering and fighting.  It’s like repeating history all over again; Oh MAN, I sure hope so!!! :o)