{"id":23,"date":"2014-11-03T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-10-16T18:57:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T18:57:47","slug":"a-conversation-with-my-elder-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/?p=23","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with my elder brother"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Last week, my elder brother came to visit me for a few
\ndays in Cape Town. The first evening was full of catching up, chit-chat and, as
\nusual a bit of serious talk crept in. It was almost midnight, and we were on
\nour third cup of tea – he was sitting on the couch, and I was on the floor with
\na throw over my legs. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nMy brother was sharing with me a story of someone who is
\ncurrently going through some forgiveness battle. I<\/span>t was in the middle of that conversation, when he said:
\n“Certain things CANNOT be changed, they CANNOT be undone. Forgiveness and
\nacceptance is key. . . \u201c <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo, today as I was surfing the net and doing some reading
\non forgiveness, I came across this quote.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere is no such thing as a “broken family.”
\nFamily is family, and is not determined by marriage certificates, divorce
\npapers, and adoption documents. Families are made in the heart. The only time
\nfamily becomes null is when those ties in the heart are cut. If you cut those
\nties, those people are not your family. If you make those ties, those people
\nare your family. And if you hate those ties, those people will still be your
\nfamily because whatever you hate will always be with you.\u201d C. JoyBell C.<\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nSuddenly – even though the conversation with my brother
\ntook place a week ago – its meaning has just managed to find its way beyond my
\nears. Only today has its meaning finally landed in my heart. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nIt is only now I realize that forgiveness does not come
\nin a nicely wrapped gift box. Of course, forgiveness is a gift – but one will have to first
\njump over some hurdles before accessing this divine blessing.  <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span> <\/div>\n
\nAs for now, jumping over the hurdles it is!<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, my elder brother came to visit me for a few days in Cape Town. The first evening was full of catching up, chit-chat and, as usual a bit of serious talk crept in. It was almost midnight, and we were on our third cup of tea – he was sitting on the couch, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/92"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}