BUSTED FRIENDSHIPS!
FIXING THE HUMPTY DUMPTY OF ESTRANGEMENT
How easy it is to lose a friendship: Raw feelings are exchanged after a silly misunderstanding (sometimes through emails)...the atmosphere turns tense...harsh words are then exchanged...attempts to clarify the situation only makes matters worst and before you know it, a friendship is lost. Its kinda painful. You ask yourself - how did this happen?
Its been years...you would like to restore the relationship...but you've lost contact with the person. There does not seem to a practical reason to get back together but something in you wants to be reconciled with the friend you lost. You make contact with the person...hullos are exchanged...we shake hands as an act of courtesy...the smiles are forced. A shallow conversation begins to move the tectonic plates but nothing really happens...the magic isn't there anymore. Lost friendships, like humpty dumpty, are hard to put back again. And the virtue of making the first move to be reconciled, some times, does not elicit a positive response.
Our failures provide a stark contrast to the way in which God fixed our estrangement with Him. This is one Friendship which was restored to the fullest. He made the first move: He came as a human being - the Christ who responded to His Father's initiatives on our behalf because we were busy stroking our own egos; He stretched Himself on the cross, forgave and regenerated us in order to bring about reconciliation. He reached out...drew us toward himself and we felt his Holy embrace! The biblical narratives of reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers, Isaac and Esau not only mirror Christ's cosmic reconciliation but also serve to inspire us to work at wounded relationships. Now that's a happy ending.
Its been years...you would like to restore the relationship...but you've lost contact with the person. There does not seem to a practical reason to get back together but something in you wants to be reconciled with the friend you lost. You make contact with the person...hullos are exchanged...we shake hands as an act of courtesy...the smiles are forced. A shallow conversation begins to move the tectonic plates but nothing really happens...the magic isn't there anymore. Lost friendships, like humpty dumpty, are hard to put back again. And the virtue of making the first move to be reconciled, some times, does not elicit a positive response.
Our failures provide a stark contrast to the way in which God fixed our estrangement with Him. This is one Friendship which was restored to the fullest. He made the first move: He came as a human being - the Christ who responded to His Father's initiatives on our behalf because we were busy stroking our own egos; He stretched Himself on the cross, forgave and regenerated us in order to bring about reconciliation. He reached out...drew us toward himself and we felt his Holy embrace! The biblical narratives of reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers, Isaac and Esau not only mirror Christ's cosmic reconciliation but also serve to inspire us to work at wounded relationships. Now that's a happy ending.
2 comments:
You described so vividly the difficulty in mending a wounded relationship....beautiful.
Only the Lord can fix all wounded relationships. Only He can give the grace for both parties to want to mend the brokenness.Sometimes we don`t recognise His work prefering to admire our own magnanimity in reaching out to others,when in actual fact the magnanimity is the work of the Holy Spirit.
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