Stronger Together

It's #SiblingSaturday!

I grew up in Armenia during the early 1990s, when the country was passing through painful and difficult days. Life was not easy. Even among young boys, the hardship of those days sometimes showed itself in tension between neighborhoods.

One winter day, my brother Arsen and I were walking through the snow on our way to judo practice. Along the way, we met some boys from another neighborhood, and suddenly a fight broke out.

At one point, I fell into the snow. I still remember the cold beneath me and the noise around me. But what I remember most is Arsen’s hand reaching down to me. He did not leave me there. He pulled me up, and together we continued.

That moment has stayed with me all my life. And perhaps that is why that every time I read the words of Ecclesiastes, it feels so personal to me: “Two are better than one… For if they fall, one will lift up the other” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

Life can knock us down. Not always with fists, but with sorrow, fear, disappointment, sickness, loneliness, and heavy responsibilities. There are moments when even the strongest person feels weak. There are moments when we fall in spirit, and we wonder if we can stand again.

But God, in His mercy, does not leave us alone.

Sometimes He sends a brother. Sometimes He sends a friend. Sometimes He sends a spouse, a parent, a child, a parishioner, or someone from the church community. And through their kindness, God reminds us: “You are not alone. I am with you.”

In Christ, we are called to become brothers and sisters to one another. We are called to lift the fallen, encourage the weary, strengthen the weak, and comfort the lonely. Maybe someone near you needs your hand today, a phone call, a kind word, a prayer, a visit, a simple message that says, “I am with you.”

So, let us thank God for the hands that lifted us, especially the brothers and sisters who walked beside us from the beginning, who knew us before the world knew us, and who stood near us in moments we will never forget. Let us remember the people who stayed beside us when life was hard.

And let us become that blessing for others. Because in every act of love, Christ Himself reaches into the snow of our struggle, raises us up, and leads us forward together.