Open and Willing
Dear Friends,
I hope you appreciate the blessings of friendship and family. Friends and family members are always a part of our lives. Even when they may disappoint us or fail us in some way, we know that the bonds of love that we share with them are stronger. Those bonds are God’s and nothing can destroy that. As I have been working on a sermon this week about forgiveness I have realized how our inability to forgive can keep us from experiencing the long term blessing of family ties and friendship. Sometimes remembering the “good times” can remind us of the value of a relationship and can remind us of what is possible.
Do you remember the story about Jacob and Esau from the Old Testament book of Genesis? Jacob did some pretty rotten things to his brother. Years later, after they had lived apart from one another, Jacob started home and knew that he would have to face his brother. He was worried that Esau would be upset and would maybe even want to kill him. But Esau was not. He was bigger than that. For Esau – seeing his brother again was a blessing. He was glad to see Jacob. I wonder if Esau had remembered back to a time before the conflict with his brother and decided that his relationship with his brother was more important than the things Jacob had done. God had blessed Esau and his family and had worked a miracle of healing and forgiveness in his heart. That is what God will do in each of us if we are open and willing.
Rifts occur in our friendships and in our families but relationships can be mended by God’s love and by our willingness to be open to that love. The Apostle Paul tells us that it is the most excellent way. (I Corinthians 13) Love is patient and kind – not envious boastful or rude. And love never fails!
To God be the Glory!
Robert
