Hi Lighthouse Family!
This is Allie, Mikey, and Lauren Tsai. If you do not already know our family, we also have another younger brother named Jonah. But he is off playing Legos and eating chips right now. 🙂
When quarantine first began, we were left with a lot of free time. Suddenly, we weren’t racing around getting to school, or church, or our other activities. At first, we felt sorry for ourselves as we began to realize that it was going to be a while before we could see our friends and extended family again. What we did not immediately recognize was that this extra time together was actually a gift, and we could use it to grow and strengthen the relationships we had right in front of us- with our siblings and our parents.
We knew many verses like John 13:34 that said “love one another” and Philippians 2:3 that said “consider others above yourself” and other verses that taught about love and the importance of relationships, but we didn’t put too much effort into working them into our daily lives with each other. We found it easier to bicker with each other and want to be right than to find a way to get along. But as our family had more time for regular devotions and reflections together, we realized that if we did not prioritize our sibling relationships now, then we would not in the future. This would also affect the way we would treat other people around us after quarantine.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant, or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” was one of the main verses that encouraged us to be loving to each other through all circumstances. This does not mean that we never argue anymore, but that we try harder to treat each other in a way that honors the Lord and builds stronger relationships with each other.
Given the current circumstances, we are thankful for this time that we have been asked to stay safer at home. Without it, we would have never recognized the blessing God gave us in our sibling relationships or had the time needed to really focus on building lasting relationships with each other.
