Have you noticed that family tension tends to ratchet up as summer progresses? As you may have found during quarantine, bickering often escalates as siblings and parents spend more unstructured time together.
To be honest, I add to the problem sometimes.
After I expend energy at work, navigate all our schedules, and try to serve my friends and community, little of my “best” is left by day’s end. My family often gets the leftovers — literally and figuratively.
In “Be King,” Christian musician Brian Morykon sings about the struggles of expressing love, even to relatives:
“Be gentle to your brother/ Jesus will show you how./ Choose to bless your enemies/ even those that live in your house.”
Our Savior sets an example by always loving me and always giving his best. That knowledge can help me flip things around and find ways to give my best, not my leftovers, to the people in my house.
—Janna Firestone