Sibling relationships – and 80 percent of Americans have at least one – outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship. They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust.
– Erica E. Goode

Will saves some of his best smiles for Josh.  And some of the tell-tale wiggles that are baby-bliss, for his brother.  From the first day, Josh has invested in his brother richly.  He hops downstairs every morning, and plunks himself in front of Will’s seat, and pops the baby’s bottle in his mouth without my asking or suggesting.  All the while chanting: “Hey bub-bub.  Hey little guy”.  And Will is thoroughly impressed, gummy grin contagiously warming the room, and communicating utmost appreciation.

Josh is my responsible middle.  My slow-and-steady, my logical and practical.  He is my quick-to-learn and my eager-to-please.  I do not know what I would do without my oldest son.  While the girls are daily evolving emotionally, Josh is steadily the same.

I discuss when I can, the importance of the role Josh will play in Will’s life.  I remind him of the impressionability of younger siblings.  I outline the utter gravity of the decisions he will make through the years, and of how they will influence Will- for better or for worse.

My prayers for these boys are many. I pray for:

*their salvation

*their understanding of and passion for God

*their career choices

*their marriages and future families

*their relationships to one another and their sisters.

And then I pray that they would enjoy one another immensely.  That stretching out ahead of them would be years of shared memories.  And that the truest friendship they ever know- the kind that lasts for life and through anything and everything, would be found in one another.