My Older Brother

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted an older brother. Someone who cares over me, watches over me, guards me against “bothersome beaus”, understands me, holds me when I am crying, is sensitive to all my feelings, in short, is the perfect brother.

I don’t have an older brother. I have a wonderful older sister and I am not in any way diminishing the beauty and joy of older sisters, but there is just something about an older brother. I was talking about this subject recently with my pastor’s wife, who also is without an older brother, and I asked why there seems to be such a charm about older brothers. She said it is because of it of the nostalgic feeling in the books we read. Anybody else feels that way? I mean is so many books and movies, we are surrounded by “perfect” older brother/sister relationships.

I mean just run through them.

1.       Mr. Darcy and Georgianna (Pride and Prejudice)

2.       David and Sarah Jacobs (Newsies)

3.       Henry and Eleanor Tilney (Northanger Abbey)

4.       Luke and Leia Skywalker (Star Wars)

I know there are more and if you think of others, let me know, but at 10:00pm, after a long day, my mind can’t come up with anymore right now.



But case in point, right? In so many brother/sister relationships we see in movies or read in books, they get along with great, the brother is so caring over his sister and when we see them interacting together, we just want to say “Awwwwww.”

So you don’t have an older brother? Well, what about the next best thing? A young man who would be willing to take the place of that older brother. Someone who would step into all those rolls you are desiring filled. Several years ago, I set out on a quest to answer that question. Was it possible to find a young man who could fill that role for a young lady? I talked with my dad, my pastor, and his wife and asked their opinions.

Really it boiled down to this question. Was it possible for an unrelated young man and a young lady to have a “brother/sister” relationship?

I was not only dealing with this question myself, but I was also observing it as well. I was also seeing such a situation for myself. They were two young people, although the young man was several years older than the young lady, who were constantly together. The young lady had no brothers at all, and that besides enjoying the company and attentions of a very nice young man. They were frequently seen together, laughing talking, and joking. They acted so familiarly together that as my sister said, after watching them interact as church counselors, if she hadn’t have known them, she would have assumed they were courting/dating!

I remember talking with my dad about all this and after listening to me he said he didn’t think it possible for a young man a young lady to have that kind of relationship without one or both parties having expectations of “future developments.” Could there be an exception, yes, but as my dad also says, “the exception proves the rule.”

So, my hopes were dashed that it was possible for that relationship to exist.

But just recently, through something my mom said, I realized a very important truth.

I already had what I was dreaming of!

What I was looking for was right in front of me!

I had an Older Brother!

Jesus Christ was my Older Brother!

God is our Father, Jesus Christ is His Son, I am adopted into the family of God and so Jesus is my Brother!

Although this may seem like a very elementary truth, it was a big “apostrophe” (our families term for “epiphany”) for me.

I already had an ELDER BROTHER!!!!!!!!

Girls, are you searching for this relationship? Have you been in a wrong relationship-seeking fulfillment?

Our fulfillment comes from no one, but CHRIST.

Enjoy this relationship. He enjoys you. He wants to be for you and me what we are looking for other guys to fulfill for us.

And best of all, He fulfills all those desires perfectly!

We have the perfect older Brother!

Love Him more!