Restoration, part III

Lately, I've been calling into question the idea of relationships and whether or not they're worth restoring. But from an experience I had yesterday, I think I may have to recant some of my ideologies. Sometimes, relationships really are worth salvaging.

In an interesting turn of events, I was able to mend another pretty deep wound in my life. Again, it was with a person with whom I've been close since childhood. Our conversation started off on a pretty aloof note (rather than simply talking to one another, we sent each other short, emotionless emails). But piece by piece, we slowly began to open up to one another. Every email got a little friendlier. Every word was a little less cold and resentful. At one point, I even saw a smiley face. What later ensued was a phone conversation that lasted well into the early morning hours (in fact, if I'm a little sluggish with my writing, it probably has something to do with the 2 1/2 hours of sleep I got). We had a great time together. We joked, we laughed, we told each other freakishly scary stories that kept me up for at least another half hour after we got off the phone.

Simply put, we were chums again.

As with one friend, and then another, the two of us were able to put our anger and frustration for one another aside and try to get back to what made us friends in the first place. Though (just like with the other two instances) I'm not entirely sure that the circumstances which created our conflict will go away, I can at least be at some kind of peace knowing that I'm no longer in conflict with another friend. I think I can live with that.

In His famous and inspring beatitudes, Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God." If we want God to bless our lives, we have to learn to be peacemakers. Now, I don't think that Jesus was referring to the guys who jump in the middle of gunfight and try to break it up. Now, that's just ridiculous. Rather, I think He was talking about the people who follow an endless and tireless pursuit of creating peaceful environments with others. Sometimes I think that my anger, frustration, and disappointment causes me to miss that mark. But, every so often a simple apology or removing a cloud of anger and discontent can really make the universe a little less hostile.

Don't get me wrong: The Bible never tells us that we have to create perfect relationships with people. But, we should have at least make an attempt to build a positive and fruitful relationship with people...even if it's only within the context of our relationship with Christ.

I think it's safe to say that we've done that...

- ACL