1. To love God more
In the Bible,God tells us that when two or more people gather in his name that He is also there (Matthew 18:20). I think that absolutely starts at home!
I think the Lord is so pleased when He sees His people, our little church in our home, bonding together in His name. To accomplish this purpose, there are a couple practical things we actively practice in our home:
- Family Worship: most nights we have some sort of family worship where we sing, pray and read God's word together. I'm working on a separate post where I will share what that looks like for our family
-We teach our kids what repentance looks like whenever they wrong one another. This goes deeper than just saying "sorry" and extends to practicing asking/extending forgiveness both of the sibling they wronged and praying too. I will admit this is not something we are as consistent in as I want to be, but something we are working on getting better at!
2. To love each other more
This one is the most obvious when it comes to sibling bonding, but still worth mentioning. We want our kids to "spur one another on towards love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24). Our home is the best practice ground for loving others well. Before we go out into the world, we get the opportunity to practice with our very own people.
My mom was so good about installing this in me and my siblings from an early age, especially my sister and I. She would drill into us that in our family we would find the best friendships we would ever have. To this day, I am still very close to my sister and brother. And I really hope the same is true of my kids 30 years from now.
One practical way I try to encourage this is to look for opportunities to pair two of them up. Whether it be LK reading with one of them, having one help me in the kitchen while the others play, or specifically separating them with different activities, I want to give them each time with each other.
3. To love others more
I want our kids to spread love so extensively to other people that it has to come from the Lord working in their hearts. Like I said above, if we are doing a good job of practicing this with each other in our home, then this should naturally be an extension of that.
"We love because He first loved us" 1 John 4:19
Encompassing all three points, and the underlying current through them all is love. And more than just sweet loving feelings, because we know that's not true love. If "God IS love" (1John 4:8, emphasis mine), then the best way we can teach our kids to bond in that love is to teach them about God in any opportunity we have.
Today the ladies of the BFBN are all sharing posts talking about sibling dynamics. Topics include ways to help the sibling relationship, benefits of structure, why you want a strong sibling bond, and if you would even want your first born to have a sibling.
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