"you can't choose your family..."

Happy birthday to you..... my little sister is having a birthday today.  I teaser her and tell her "she is my favorite sister," but she is my only sister.  You no what they say, "you don't get to choose your family", and I am so thankful for that.  As a kid I did some pretty rotten things being the 5 years older bossy sister.  As a grown up I have had moments of building "false selves," & my sister has been the one to call me on it.  She has kept me accountable.  Even as a little girl she was a person of integrity.  Once we had a babysitter who invited a friend over while we were in her care.  The friend tossed a pillow to our sitter & broke a ceramic vase.  She concocted this story that would make my mom think it was an accident without revealing she had a friend at our house. When my mom arrived home the lie was told, but my sister who was maybe five at the time yelled out, "that's not the true, Mom that's not the TRUE!" 


I feel so fortunate to have a sister who is honest & lives her life with integrity.  I don't know that I have always followed her lead, but she loves me anyway.  I feel lucky in a way that you can't exactly choose your family, you're sort of stuck with them in a way.  My sister is stuck with me.


I am reminded of one of my favorite books of the Old Testament.  In Ruth 1 Ruth's husband & father-in-law have die.  Her mother-in-law encouraged Ruth to go back to her parents.  Ruth tells Naomi, "Wherever you go, I will go." Ruth 1:16   Ruth chose to be stuck with Naomi.  No the real importance of this choice is that from Ruth comes the lineage of Jesus the Messiah.  Without Ruth's choice our world would have been with out a Savior.


I am so blessed to have my sister in my life & today I thank the Lord for the blessing she is to me.