Duane and Lisa Larson with their sons Seth and Sam, and daughter Sarah.
“Are they brothers?” Over the last decade and a half, I been asked that question hundreds of times. And yet when I hear it, even now it stuns me. Often, the question simply fails to register. It sounds, quite literally, nonsensical. “Is your foot your foot?” “Is the moon the moon?” My answer is commonly an awkward, “well, of course.”
Yes, yes, I know what the questioner is asking — all about biology, right? (The need to inquire and why it matters is perhaps another issue, and perhaps not.)
Yet, should I say no? Can I possibly? “Are they brothers?” No, they are not. — And so I say, “No, my sons, you are not brothers.” What are you? You are less-than, other-than. Not. This, I will never say. Not once. Ever.
The question itself breaks my heart. What would you have them be if not brothers? So surely the questioner does not understand that the question can have only one answer and so isn’t a question worth asking at all.
Yes. Because they are. Just as your foot is your foot and the moon is the moon, they are brothers. It can be no other way. They are family. In every way. Bonded and bound, and blessed beyond measure to be true, real brothers.
So ask me “Are they brothers?” And I will say yes every time.
This post was written by Lisa Larson. This was posted as her facebook status on November 19, 2013. I asked her if I could use it for my blog because I thought it was beautiful and needed to be shared. Lisa is a proud Iowan, but currently lives in Eureka, Missouri. I met her in 2006 when her family came to Eureka so that her husband Duane could serve as the Senior Pastor of Eureka United Methodist Church. I was a seminary intern at Eureka UMC for a year with Duane as my supervisor. In that short amount of time I learned a lot about being a pastor and raising a young family. I remember little Sarah coming to her Daddy in worship, and think of them often when my own little girl does the same to me now. Lisa let me use this picture of her beautiful family, and I hope she is able to write another guest blog for me someday.
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Great post!