Family: Good for Nothing, Good for Everything

Hey Family,

I've had some things on my mind when I started thinking about a certain story in the bible.

There was a young, teenage boy names Joseph who had these prophetic dreams. They told about his own rising to  place of power. They told about how people would bow to him. Now, Joseph told his brothers about his dreams on a few different occasions. Each time, they rejected him. They couldn't stand him to begin with, so they would never imagine themselves in a position where they would bow down to their younger brother, daddy's favorite baby boy.

Joseph, I could imagine, went away from his brothers with hurt feelings. Probably knowing that they didn't like him too much, and now this. He didn't quite understand or fully believe the dreams he was having himself. But I bet the reality of his brothers NEVER accepting the idea had to hurt him to his soul. I can imagine he may have desired his family's full love, but unfortunately could not get that. He only wanted his brothers and his parents to love and accept him.

So many of us go through this as well. We have a dream, and we don't even make it to an outsider knocking those dreams out of your mind. Sometimes, your own family who does it themselves. Sometimes it's your own siblings that tell you that you are crazy. That you are not good enough. That you aren't pretty enough. That you don't have the right connections. That you will not and could never rise to do it. That you just don't have the smarts for what you are claiming. THAT GOD COULD NEVER USE SOMEONE LIKE YOU.

I bet it's happened to sooooo many of us.

So in the story, after Joseph realizes that his brothers will never believe the dreams that he's had he goes to the one that you'd think has his back. His father. He tells his father about it, and thinking that his own father would understand him and support him.... he didn't. His father gave him the same ridicule that his brothers did. Now this does not mean that his father felt the jealousy that his brothers did. But he simply did not believe.

This is the same today for so many of us as well and to our children. We speak to family. Because they are family, we usually feel that if anyone is going to support us, it would be family! And even if it is a case where siblings or cousins reject you and your idea/dreams, you can usually count on your lead. Your parent. Poor Joseph did not have that support.

 Here is what first happened to Joseph in Genesis 37:3-11

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Now, meditate on that for a bit family. Think about yourself and your family. How may you have made someone in your family feel like Joseph may have. Or maybe how someone in your family made you feel like Joseph did. It's not a good feeling. Believe me.

I love you all!!! Be Blessed!!!