Got Siblings?

     "I wish I hadn't waited so long to start purposefully investing in my sibling's lives."  As I read the article that this confession was made in, a mental post-it note was added to the cork board of my brain.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to calculate the huge ministry opportunity many of us have in the form of our siblings.   In His sovereign plan, God has divinely put us in the family that we are in and surrounded us with brother(s) and/or sister(s) we can impact right now!  However, many of us don't see our siblings in this light or we put off making a conscious effort to invest in our family relationships.  So today I am here to encourage and challenge you: make the effort and take the time to invest in your relationship(s) with your sibling(s).  Don't wait till it's too late.
    Now for the practical part.  The problem that I have, as well as some of you is this, I have a lot of siblings.  If I divided up all my extra time between them, it wouldn't amount to much.  Consequently I have started implementing what I like to call Sibling Of The Week.  Every week I focus on making a concentrated effort to reach out to one sibling. Not that I ignore the others, I just focus on that sibling.  Each of the siblings get their week going from youngest to oldest and the rotation starts over every five weeks, since I have five siblings.  By implementing S.O.T.W. into my schedule, it allows for me to prioritize my sibling relationships and not get so busy with other life activities that I leave my family in the dust.  Life get's busy so if you want to make sure something happens write it down.  I have a spot in my calender where I label which sibling's week it is.  Although there are many ways to build your sibling relationships, I have found having a set rotation helps me prioritize time for what is most important. 
      I know we have some readers who are more creative than this writer, but here are some suggestions of special things you could do.  Hopefully this will help you get the idea of how it plays out and get your own mental juices flowing!

• Sit down and read books together
• If you can drive, plan a special date such as going to the park or stopping at an ice cream shop.
• "Do you want to build a snow man?" 
• Or go on a walk
• Or jump in a leaf pile
• Or go climb a tree
• Whatever activity the season my allow:)
• Have a sibling sleep over in your room
• Plan a special time in the Word and in prayer with an older sibling.
• Make a special treat

• This is very effective if you have brothers ranging in age from 10-20:) The way to a young man's heart is through his stomach.
• Write a little 'love note' and leave it on their bed.
• You could always add a piece of candy to make it extra special!

•  Do what they enjoy with them

• My brother really enjoys basketball.  At times I will go out and play, most often acting as his personal coach since I seriously lack skill in any sport involving a ball.
• For those of you with sisters, plan a tea party.
  
• Play games together
• Print off coloring pages and let your artistic side come out! 
• If you have siblings out of the house, send a friendly text message or e-mail.  You could even bless their day with a scripture verse.

     The list of possibilities is endless.  It's not a matter of what you do but more of why you do it.  Are we ready and willing to love?  Then we must also be ready and willing to give of our time and our efforts to purposefully love our siblings.  However, sometimes those who we live with everyday seem like the hardest people to love.  We can only sacrificially love through Christ.

~ We love because He first loved us.  ~