We were always taught that family counts. Family is important, but I recently decided that my life is, has been and will always be better off without the connection with a family member – my brother. That ‘tie that binds’ has had me in bondage long enough.
He seems to believe his view of our family is the only valid one and seems not to have a clue what he did to me that shaped who I am today.
I reached out recently in order to mend things in me and FOR me. His response, of course, was totally self-serving.
Then I remembered something my mother once told me. “You do not have to let bad family members into your life. We are not doormats that they can wipe their feet on and step all over.”
I will pray for him as I am sure he does not know the Lord, or at least does not study His word about forgiveness.
Our parents are long gone, as is our older brother and he only seems to have room in his life for one side of the family – our father’s. Too bad he is blind to some truths there…
Since I believe he has poisoned the minds of all our cousins (on our father’s side) and nieces and nephews of our brother’s, there is little, if no, reason for me to reach out to them.
The saddest part of this is that the “tie that binds” is broken for my children and grandchildren. The well is poisoned, as it were, and their lives are much better off without that connection.