Say Uncle? Never!

Do you remember as a kid "playing Uncle"? I didn't like to play but having an older brother, many time I was included against my will. He would grab my arm, thumb or toe and twist or squeeze and tell me to say Uncle and he would stop. Now the smart thing to do would have been to say Uncle and accept the "defeat" with whatever grace I could have mustered up, but not me...I had a big dollop of stubbornness from both parents and would hold my breath until I would have tears streaming down my face, but say Uncle? Never! I would have a sore arm for days with bruises the exact size of my brother's fingers but I didn't say Uncle so I "won". Was it the smart thing to do? I would have to say no. My relationship with my brother to this day is one that is marred with pain. Not just games anymore, real life scars that the abuse of alcohol and drug leave...twisted and bruised relationships, trust and lives. When I was younger I knew every hiding place in our house, yard and neighborhood that I would immediately run to if I saw him coming and as an adult I guess I have done the same thing...caller ID is a good thing to have if you want to hide.

With my New Year's resolution came the biggest brother of all 'bad'....Satan. He gave me every opportunity to give in to TSOO possible. (If you haven't read my previous blog on The Spirit of Offense (TSOO), now would be a good time to get filled in.) Being in the resolution mode I took them all with a grain of salt the first week and laughed at all of the holds Satan tried! I felt very strong and thought more of my resolution as a game of Uncle than the serious change that God was putting on my life...after all, that first week seemed easy! Now that the second week has passed I am thinking that saying Uncle might be the easiest thing to do...after all, I have a lot on my plate right now and I don't have time to deal with my attitude...so I feel myself hiding whenever I see Satan (or is it God?) putting an opportunity in front of me to feel offended. Instead of dealing with my own feelings and attitudes, I stuff the situation down. Instead of praying for people and blessing them, I turn away to TV or the computer to take away the problem and forget the offense for the moment. Instead of making the encouraging call to the person that has offended me, I talk about them to someone that is sympathetic to Me. So I guess in all sorts of ways I have said Uncle to Satan...something I wouldn't have done for my own brother I did to the biggest liar, cheater, and the one that hates me most...and I gave in.

Thank goodness we have a God and a Big Brother that allows us a win-win life! In repentance I am not 'giving up', I am getting help from my Big Brother Jesus to take the arm-twisting fingers of Satan off of my life and to let me hide in Him while He does the fighting for me. I just acknowledge that I am the little sister that really can't make it alone. All I have to do is remain in the family, praise, encourage and lift up everyone else on this earth to show them my Big Brother can and does fight for them too! To let them know (or remind them) that they too have this family available to them and they can develop a relationship in his love that defeats all the pain and suffering that Satan has thrown at them. And in doing that I remind myself of why I should never take offense...because Satan is the enemy, not other people who are fighting this fight just like me. So once again, I am standing up and facing TSOO and declaring with tears of repentance on my face and my Brother at my side, "Say Uncle? Never!"