The Family Cain: Heir Estates and The Bottomless Pit

The story of the Bible’s Cain and Abel is wrought with suspicion and intrigue. Cain, the Firstborn of Adam and Eve, presented an offering to God. His younger brother Abel did also. God accepted Abel’s gift but not Cain’s. Cain killed Abel upon finding out that God accepted Abel’s gift. Was Cain jealous? Was Abel a showboat after God approved of his gift? The Bible does not mention these two facts. We do know, however, that it is wrong to kill someone. God came to this conclusion first. He sentenced Cain to a life of wandering and confusion as punishment for killing his brother. This brings me to an unfortunate story of modern-day drama and confusion.

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We all at one point in our lives will be surrounded with drama. How we choose to rise above the drama is a test of our true character. Yesterday’s events involved years of a culmination of emotion and heartbreak initiated by the family members of a close friend.

My friend’s family is interesting. My friend witnessed her family pick on her mother’s weight at every family function she attended. The aunts and uncles would wait until the mother was outside of the room to jide her. The aunts and uncles had no respect for the humanity of the child, my friend. They continued to berate her mother in front of my friend-pretending as if she was not in the room. The family arrogance factor became more apparent on several occasions including my friend’s high school graduation party.

My friend chose as a child not to maintain a close relationship with most of her mother’s siblings as a result of the unwelcoming behaviors. As long as the grandparents were alive, however, the family continued to pretend to be somewhat interested in the mother.

Things drastically changed when the grandfather passed away. The Living Will was read to the siblings one week after the grandfather died. The will stated that all of the siblings were to be co-owners of the house the grandmother and grandfather owned. The siblings agreed that my friend’s mother would live in the house since she earned the least income. The siblings imagined that my friend’s mother could handle the expenses of the house since the house was void of a monthly mortgage requirement. The mother accepted the offer to live in the house thinking that her siblings would be kind enough to pick up the financial slack for the house in case she could not cover all of the expenses. The career she chose does not offer a huge salary but a life of fulfillment and purpose. As the years went by the siblings did not offer to pay any of the basic maintenance fees such as housing taxes or updating the house to have modern fixtures that the mother could not pay.

The house had beautiful scenery and interior decor until the unthinkable happened! The mother came home one day to the aunt moving her items into the home without even discussing a move to the mother! In the meanwhile the aunt maintains ownership of two homes and has invaded the space of someone who is financially struggling and that just wants one home to call her own. The aunt’s excuse for moving into the house was that the mother was allowing the house to be run-down. The house had fixtures that were a few years old that were well-maintained. There was never any mention of the siblings personally paying companies to get new fixtures for the house. The family was only willing to fix things they lived in-a sign of an unwillingness to admit greed. The aunt does not need extra living space. She is not a doctor or high-profile person. She is not in heavy demand by various business entities. She has grown children. Furthermore, the aunt has ruined the grass (after repeated warnings from lawn care owners) and the interior of the home since moving in. Some legal opportunities to protect the mother’s space may have perhaps been missed. But there is a higher power who cares for the mother.

Since disrespectfully handling the situation the aunt’s arrogance and unwillingness to listen to advice has caused her to lose personal assets and have children that she continues to financially bail out after they have children they cannot afford. There is a curse over her life. Cain decided to walk away from his curse and live right. The aunt continues to choose behaviors that allow her to remain in the curse.

If you are going through problems with money and family remember that God has the final say. Our lives will continue to be wrecked on higher levels than the next incidence until we slow down and choose humility.