The Power of Sisterly Love
Written by Courageous Girls, Merin (age 10) and Tessa (age 9)
We are Merin and Tessa Brown and we are in our second year of being in a Courageous Girls group together. We look forward to meeting every month! We’ve made good friends in our group and our favorite part about CG is that we get to have fun together AND talk about God and important things in life. No one ever feels left out because there is always someone to talk to.
Being able to do both fun and spiritual things together makes a strong relationship between people and so we really appreciate our CG friends.
Even though we look really different from each other, and if someone saw us together at a park they wouldn’t even know we were sisters, we are each other’s best friend! Sometimes we feel a little sad for our friends that don’t have siblings close to their age. Of course, we argue and get frustrated with each other sometimes, but it’s pretty great to have a built-in friend to talk to and play with 24/7!
Ever since we were little, we have worked hard at coming up with fun activities that we can both do together. This means we have to share a lot of ideas to figure things out, so we learn to have a lot of patience with each other. We get pretty crazy with our ideas sometimes! We play games with Tessa’s wheelchair and she drives while Merin hangs off the side. And then we will change it up and Tessa will ride in a wagon or on a skateboard and Merin will pull her around the yard. We usually split up the housework and work as a team- Tessa puts all the hangers on the clothes and then Merin reaches up in the closet to hang them up. Or Merin sweeps the kitchen and Tessa holds the dustpan for her.
Our mom often tells us that it’s important for everyone to contribute and so we just have to figure out how we can each do our part with the abilities that we have.
Sometimes people feel nervous about being around someone who is different from them. But there really isn’t anything to be nervous about at all! People can always find something in common to talk about. And it’s pretty fun to come up with games that include all types of abilities so that everyone can play. You just have to try!
Our physical differences are what most people notice when they first meet us, but we are different in almost every other way too- like our hobbies and what we like to do for fun. But we’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what you look like, it just mostly matters what’s on the inside, like loving, caring and being gentle and kind with the people around you.
You can find a lot of things to admire and learn about people if you just take the time to ask questions and get to know them.
Differences and disabilities aren’t things to be intimidated by or to feel sorry for someone about- they are opportunities for working as a team and coming up with lots of creative ideas for how you can come together and have even more fun and strength than you would have on your own.
Having a sister to us means caring for each other, friendship, and practicing sisterly love.