Driving home from the store this morning I heard an old favorite on the radio. There are many things in life that take me back to childhood and this song was one of them.

“Good Ole Boys” was the theme song to The Dukes of Hazzard. I loved the song, hated the show. At least that’s what I thought.

I’ve spent all these years thinking I hated certain things BECAUSE my sister loved them. In addition to the Dukes, there was Flash Gordon, climbing trees, and hamburgers.

I assumed that some intense sibling rivalry led me to dislike those things as much as she despised pizza, musicals, and chocolate.

But the truth was, we just had different tastes.

I’ve never been a big fan of red meat, action films, and outdoor life though I have enjoyed all three at times. It is a preference and I don’t think that would’ve changed even if I’d been an only child.

Yet all these years I’d been convinced otherwise.

I’d unknowingly and unnecessarily made a rift wider than it should’ve been. I’d made a mountain out of a molehill.

The truth was, we had more common ground than differences. We liked a lot of the same things and even now we will call each other when something reminds us of our childhood. Just yesterday I sent her a picture of my microwaved sandwich with the slightly overcooked cheese because it looked like our after-school, latchkey grilled cheese snacks of the 80’s.

And we did compromise over our differences. I can still do the GO FLASH GO dance because I watched it with her so many times. I used to could do the Bo Duke slide across the hood of a car. She can still reenact my beautifully choreographed If Momma Was Married act from Gypsy if we drag out Mom’s old piano bench and imitate Ariel’s goofy scream from the dance scene at the end of Footloose.

So, why on earth have I believed for so many years that my tastes were solely vindictive ones?

Pride, I suppose. And jealousy.

She and my dad had similar interests as did my mom and I. Neither of them loved us any less than we loved either of them.

I’m not sure why that took almost 40 years to see.

What a waste of time!

Don’t make mountains out of molehills. (Allowing Satan to whisper lies about your siblings=dirt. Unforgiveness=dirt. Pride=dirt. Miscommunication=dirt.)

John 10:10 says, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Abundant life starts at home!