DNA and Other Bonds

By Hally Franz –

It’s the reason we share the two greatest sorrows of our lives. I know without asking her that, aside from our individual challenges and heartbreaks, my sister and I would both identify our parents’ divorce and our father’s sudden passing at 61 as the saddest times we’ve known. It explains why our husbands still can’t tell us apart on the telephone and why we look more alike all the time. When we come up with the same word or thought in a situation, we know it is all about nurture and nature, our shared histories and DNA.

Sisterhood is a special relationship. While I am fortunate to have a biological sister, I also find great joy in my pseudo-sister connections. Isn’t it interesting how many ways there are for women to relate to one another?

Sometimes we feel close to others simply because we’ve known them so long. I live in a small town and attended the same public school system for 13 years. Those of us who entered kindergarten together have a common bond, and, even if we’re not in one another’s lives, there is something meaningful about our shared experiences.

Kids have a way of bringing together like-minded moms. I appreciate the fellowship that I have with other mothers whom I sit with on the bench, work with on school parties, and telephone when there is a sleepover in the works. We’re all in the parenting trenches together, and their company encourages me.

Our interests help us cultivate friendships as well. Some connect over dice at bunko parties, some while on the gym’s treadmills, and others with pictures, stickers and scrapbooks. I have been blessed to meet a group of ladies in my book club. We have a great time reading and ranting each month. We share opinions and confidences, and sometimes, a lively 80s karaoke session.

The women in my church have what we call “The Three D’s Gathering” each month: dinner, devotion and dessert. I love these evenings. They are a chance to become closer to my sisters in Christ. We learn and laugh and grow in faith. We plan to be sisters now and in heaven.

Whether they’ve come through science or circumstance, I love my sisters! And I love the Lord for bringing them into my life.

PRAYER: Father, thank You for the wonderful sister relationships You have brought into my life. May we encourage and uplift one another in Christian love.

“At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her” (Ruth 1:14 NIV).

Today’s devotion is by Hally Franz. Hally is a former high school guidance counselor, turned homemaker. Hally sees each day as a new exercise, where routines change and weights vary. Her goal is to maintain all-around fitness for service, while training her children to be competitive, compassionate and Christ-like in the world in which we live.