More Devious Than Jacob

“Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love covers all offenses.” – Proverbs 10:12

I might have been able to spend Christmas at Grandma’s when I was 8. I might have been able to avoid the trauma of the infamous slap fest. I might have avoided listening to the same 8-track 4 times in a row. She made it impossible. 

My childhood was devoid of meaning. I had an older sister who felt she was in every way superior. She could drive before me, she worked a deal to steal my larger bedroom that puts Jacob’s “Red Stew” incident to shame, and she could always get me into trouble with my parents even when she started it. 

Many years have passed since we last held a contest to see who would cry first after being slapped, and I find myself grateful that the 8-track is obsolete, but I’m even more grateful for a new outlook based on love. 

Maybe sibling rivalries are normal, but the quarrels they produce don’t bring people together. When I was eight and my father turned the car away from the road to Grandma’s because of a backseat fight I thought I hated my sister. When I cried because she slapped harder than a mountain man during a mosquito attack in springtime I felt hatred seeping into my brain. When she laughed because she could drive – and choose the music – I resented her. 

We haven’t lived under the same roof in nearly 40 years. Time has a way of prioritizing offenses. Love can replace hatred, and offenses don’t seem so offensive. Love offers a forgiveness that has been both given and received. 

Father, help me really see the person behind my resentment. Help me realize the quarrels that can occur do little to bring people together. Help me to forgive and love the way You did when You sent Your Son to die for people who hated – and quarreled.  Amen.