Blood is Thicker than Water~

My sister called me this week and asked if I would be available to come to Dallas to drive her to the hospital.  I immediately said yes even though it is my youngest daughter's first week in high school.  Why?  Because there are times when you have to put aside one important event for something even more important.  My sister needs me and I am the one person in the family that can actually take the time to go and spend a few days with her in the middle of the week.  I cherish the thought that we are close as a family and can call on one another when needs arise.

I have lived long enough to know that we are a special family.  I am always sad when I hear that family members go for months and even years without contact.  We all have friends who live miles away from their families and rarely have the chance to see one another.  Others are burdened by childhood hurts, cruel words, broken dreams and they just cannot put those feelings behind them.  It is so hard to heal from those past hurts.  Sometimes we replace our birth family with friends who become our sisters and brothers and find the joy in a family relationship.

Although my family is close, it has taken a lot of work to keep it so.  We, too, have struggled through disagreements and times where we needed space.  Our words are sometimes too free and our advice too assertive.  We have pushed too hard when we should have just listened, judged by our own perspective, and hung up the phone when we should have held on.  I am fortunate to have a family that forgives.  I sure have needed a big helping of forgiveness from them when I come on too strong, but I have practiced forgiveness because we were taught that there is nothing more important than family.

My challenge to my readers is this~ call someone in your family.  Ask them how you can support them. If  there are things to be forgiven, ask them for forgiveness or forgive them.  Plan some one on one time.  I promise you, there is someone waiting for your phone call and it will bless you to have a moment of shared family.  Here's to the telephone, the letter, the email!  May it change your life.