When Jesus Christ preached on earth, the two greatest commandments were these:
37And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38″This is the great and foremost commandment. 39″The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’…
Christianity doesn’t get easier than that once you understand the two great commandments. How do you go about doing the second one? There are many examples in the gospels, including visiting the sick, looking after the widows, orphans and prisoners but to be honest, there is no easier way than look within your own family.
There is rarely any family who spreads their love equally among their kids. My father’s father favored other sons other than him. My husband’s mother has to protect the middle one just because he was a bit less bright than the other 5. My own family, just the two of us, my brother and I – oh dear, the injustices that my brother had to suffer just because I was the more hard working kid. It scarred him for life! Life! Start from your own family. Towards the end of my life, I could only protect so much my middle one too. While it’s fair to demand the same performance from all kids, it’s a totally different matter to withdraw love especially from one just because he doesn’t perform. Start now. Reform your whole approach to loving your family. Love them all the same way. Not just demanding performance. Love!!! Only then would the kid survive.
I have started rethinking about how many kids my kids should have as a suggestion and believe it or not, I have now changed my mind. In the past, I always said two but now, I think one kid is plenty. Have one kid and dote on him/her with all the love you could give. With two, you have a comparison. Just one is plenty. Good luck to all of you who haven’t set up a family yet. And if you have one already, make sure you love everyone equally starting right now.
Sandra Li-Pham 
Interesting post but I have a different opinion. My husband is an only child but he had lots and lots of cousins. I have a half brother who is 10 years older and was mostly away from home so somewhat of a stranger although we are close now. Where I have only him as a sibling, he has many other half siblings from his father’s second marriage. I always envied friends who came from large families and I’ve also witnessed the favorite child scenario as well as the black sheep of the family. I don’t know of any only child that doesn’t wish they had siblings. The Bible always made it a point to list the names of entire families because even God recognized how important families are. I think that if you can recognize the talents of each child and accept what each one has to offer the family … just as you do with friends. Some may not be smart academically but they have a lot of compassion or are good gardeners. Ironically, in the families where I witnessed the favorite child and the so called black sheep … it was usually the black sheep that in their final days, the parents could depend upon and lean on. Life is funny that way. Blessings.
Amen to that sisterâ¦Fantastic message to send and remind us that our responsibilities to one another first start in our own home.
I love you Sandra.
Jean
Good message Sandra with impact – I agree it starts at home.