Kindred Bonds

He carried them like this all the way across the yard before they all collapsed in a pile of giggles and got up to do it again.

As I watched them play, I found myself praying for them. Not the regular prayers of health, success, and Spirit guidance. I daily pray for their individual futures. I pray that they will become loving, compassionate adults. But in this moment I found myself praying for their relationship with each other.

I want them to carry each other throughout their lives. I want that boy to be a shoulder his sisters can cry on. I want him to defend them, to stand up for them. I want him to be excited about their accomplishments and cheer them on. I want those girls to sit cross legged and giggle about crushes. I want them to be each other maid-of-honor, to hold each other's hand in child birth. I want them to uplift their brother and comfort him in his failures and hard times. I want the three of them to be closer to each other than they are to us. I want them to lean hard into each other and laugh with each other. I want them to have dinner together. I hope they are there for the small daily moments as well as the big ones.

I think there's something special about a sibling bond that can't be replaced by any other. They grow up together. They know weaknesses and strengths. They know the history, the happy and the hurtful. They'll fight and they'll each have their moments of selfishness, I know. But I hope they make up and ask for forgiveness and love each other.

This is my new prayer for them.