A Holy Time-out For Sibling Rivalry

A Holy Time-out for Sibling Rivalry

Bible Blast: Read Numbers 12:1-16

So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, I beg you, please heal her.” Numbers 12:13

I remember “time-out.” When I was naughty, my mom would put me in the corner with my face to the wall. She would say, “Dannah, you need time to think about what you just did, so go to the corner where you won’t be distracted by other things.” As my breath created warm steam in the tight corner of the wall, I would stand there with nothing to do but consider my silly actions. The time-out seemed to last an eternity.

Not so with the “double time-out.” This was Mom’s punishment when my brother and I got into a fight. She’d put each of us in a separate corner. This common experience bonded us together. I remember sneaking peeks at my brother. We had an unspoken code-language that we’d developed and used from corner to corner. The giggles were held in as quietly as possible until our sentence was over, and then we’d fall to the floor in hysterical laughter.

Numbers 12 shows a sort of holy “time-out” for sibling rivalry. Aaron and Miriam are grumbling because Moses is hearing God’s voice and they are not. So they start to say bad things about him. God calls for Aaron and Miriam. And then he punishes Miriam by letting her get sick enough that she has to go out of the community. Moses can’t stand to watch her suffering. He loves Aaron and Miriam. Soon Moses cries out to God to “please heal her.”

Even if you don’t get along with your brothers and sisters very well, you still need to show love for them by not attacking them with your words or actions. Maybe the next time you’re tempted to have an argument, don’t say anything at all. It’s really hard for two people to fight when one of them isn’t saying something mean. I bet if you do this, the amount of yelling in your house will go way down.

Isn’t it funny how we fight with our siblings? And isn’t it amazing that when we get in trouble for it, we sometimes realize that we actually love them?

Girl Gab: Mom, share with your daughter how you feel when she fights with her siblings (or friends, if she is an only child). Talk to her about why you do whatever it is that you do to intervene when they fight!