For the Love of a Brother

We had a very interesting experience tonight. An object lesson that was so poignant that I hope we never forget it. It started out as a typical Sunday meal. We were having fried chicken and mash potatoes. Normally my kids are pretty much good eaters and I rarely do I have to cater my meals specifically for them. But for some reason, both Ryan and Brianna were having difficulty eating some of their food.

Since we have Family Home Evening on Sundays, we announced that we would be having a really fun dessert that night. (Basically it was a smorgasbord of all of the residual treats leftover from Christmas.) We were going to lay them all on the table and tell the kids to go crazy. Of course, we said that it was necessary that the kids eat their nutritious food first. Brianna was not in the "mood" for chicken and Ryan was loathing the golf ball size serving of mashed potatoes. Go figure that a boy doesn't like mash potatoes. It is just weird. Either way about it, he was mortified that we were requiring such an awful thing of him.

A time limit was finally set and the kids continued to sob. Finally, Brianna choked down her chicken. But Ryan wouldn't budge. He was literally having a melt down with gnashing and wailing of teeth. I left the room to work on the FHE lesson and Roger left to talk on the phone. Brianna continued to wail. She came up to me just sobbing and pleading for her brother to be given one more chance. She was hysterical about it. She kept running downstairs to check on the progress and then coming up once again to beg for her brother.

Eventually the timer went off. Ryan ran from the table, shouting on the way that he was going to go to his room and never come out. Brianna eventually returned to me, but now she was calm and no longer crying.

When I went downstairs to do the dishes, I glanced at Ryan's plate. All but a small spec of potatoes were gone. I figured Ryan finally manned up and ate them. When Roger saw the plate he knew something was up. He asked Brianna if she ate the potatoes. She denied it at first, but eventually owned up to it. She said that she wanted so badly for Ryan to have a second chance at dessert that she ate the potatoes for him because she loves him. Roger and I just sat there in silence for a moment.

Here was Brianna with nothing to gain by eating the potatoes and yet she did it selflessly for her brother. We realized this was a teaching moment. We called Ryan back down and explained what had happened. We then talked about the Savior and how he did the exact same thing. He sacrificed for us without gaining anything in return. He asks us to do all that we can and then he makes up for our weaknesses and shortcomings. Our youngest daughter taught us all a powerful lesson.

Of course, we couldn't deny Ryan the dessert after that display of love. Ryan and Brianna have always had a special relationship and this just solidified it even more. Ryan then couldn't help but serve and help his sister in other things after that. The results have continued now for several days (I am writing this in retrospect). Little acts of service and love continue to be reciprocated. I am only hoping that we can all remember this example of true and selfless love.