![siblings-rivalry.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYS3pny4GvXc1LCJ42U2iWLSViELbeYyuaNMAM8tNDfaL/siblings-rivalry.jpg)
<a href='http://www.inspirerr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/siblings-rivalry.jpg'>*image source*</a>

Today was amazing last day of the year for me coz it's................ SUNDAY!!! (my favorite day of the week). So it being a Sunday, I was at church and so happen "took care" (😆) of the kids and toddlers, about 7 of them.

While mingling in the utter chaos of screaming, laughing, crying and shouting, I had a conversation with the oldest girl there of which I've seen her since she was a newborn and now she's 7 going on to 8 next year. 

A part of conversation I was curious to know about how she felt about her siblings, of which both of her siblings, a younger sister age 5 and a younger brother age 4 were there and my questions and her answers weren't discreetly discussed 😃

I asked her if she likes her sister, Isabel. She said no 😃 I asked her if she likes her brother, Ean, she said no, again without hesitation and like with the tone, "er like duh, no?"

And all of this was done in front of them! Can you believe it! I then asked, do you love them? She responded again, "No". Then I kindda lectured her saying that you don't have to like them but you've gotta love them and thats loving unconditionally because you don't particularly have a reason to love them, you just do. She still said, "No I don't like them and I don't love them."But she didn't say it in like a hateful manner. She was just, well..... being really honest and childlike (I'm a huge fan of this!)

I'm a big advocate and preach a lot on confronting your fears and your hurts. To me, relationships are more valuable no matter how painful the truth may be and if we're gonna value relationships FIRST,  we'll be setting the standard to what is important in our lives. My wife once told me, "Hurt mah hurt la, so what? Like as if our love for each other is lousier than hurt." Well in proper grammar and English, what she was saying is that why should we always prioritise our hurt first? Why do we choose to first run away when we feel pain instead of practising and putting on love? Yep practise.... 

Love isn't always our first response to many situations. We tend to respond out of self defence and often run away from confrontations. And when I say confrontation, I don't mean combative. I mean we confront our fears. We confront our hurts and pains and put on love. Practice love and you'll soon brush of hurts easier and easier, quicker and quicker.

<h1>So back to the story.......... </h1>

I then asked her sister, Isabel, "Isabel, do you like Claire?" She nodded her head with eyes wide open, "Uhuh... yah very much!..." kind of look to her face. I was already laughing and could feel Claire was a little stunned by her sister's response 😃 

I then asked her brother, Ean, the same question. He without hesitation said, "YAP!" like.... yeppadie-doo-dah!

I was like, "Ohhhh MEGA BURN!"....

Man....... you had to be there to witness this amazing moment!

I'm sure they'll work things out. They have amazing parents and their parents have amazing friends and family around them. They're in good hands 😃

![Isabel Claire Ean.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmazZQU8iiohaQLLBWnu9Z9sQD4kmr2vCtS5R5w58TNtbB/Isabel%20Claire%20Ean.jpg)
<center>*(Isabel, Claire, Ean)*</center>

-----------------------------------------------------------

The meaning of the word *'sibling'* according to the dictionary means:

*: comember of a sib, a unilateral descent group thought to share kinship through a common ancestor.*

But is that really all there is? A bond through common ancestral lineage?

Well we are all too familiar about sibling rivalry. The fights. The arguments. The misunderstandings. The hurt. The pain.... oh the list goes on ~~~

But what about the good things that come from being in a brotherhood? All too often I see around me broken relationships or siblings that share nothing in common except their last name. It's a shame that not many having a thriving relationship with their siblings. It even seems foreign to many to even grasp an idea of a thriving relationship with their own sibling.

I believe that our siblings are our God-given friends, our first friends, our first housemates, that we've been given to learn how to share, trust, and love. And learning these things involve pains at times. Fights and quarrels. And through all of these we learn how to be the very best of ourselves..... because of THEM!

I'd like to propose to you that where there is unhealthy, there is healthy and where there is broken, there is is wholesome. I encourage you that at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, lets work towards valuing what truly matters, whether blood related or not, our love for one another, our brothers and sisters.

![1459975_10152048568797451_45235864_n.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWQueszFu5aEaQjtRcLJ9FJPhkLRTmfUWmLKeP5H64HcL/1459975_10152048568797451_45235864_n.jpg)

(Me and my brother. We are F&B business partners, leaders and pastors of a church, crypto exploring teammates and who knows what the future holds)