Oh, Brother!

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”  Matthew 5:23-24

I had the most bizarre, strange, unexpected, but yes, wonderful experience last week.  My brother-in-law showed up at my front door.  Now, you’re probably wondering why this is so strange.  Well, for starters, I live on the east coast, and my brother-in-law lives on the west coast.

Was he in my neighborhood on business?  Nope.  Was he visiting another friend or relative?  Nope.

Had my husband spoken with him recently?  Nope…..nope.

Could that have been why?

Yup!

To make a long story short, my husband and his brother hadn’t spoken at all in over a year.  The family grew apart when my father-in-law needed to be in assisted living, and right or wrong, my husband felt as though he was being shut out any discussions about his father’s care.  What started off as frequent phone calls and a lot of sharing of ideas had dwindled down to an occasional email or text message, and maybe a card around the holidays.  I can’t tell you if it was outright anger, or just feelings on all sides of being slighted or ignored, but a once-close family grew very far apart over time.  And no one seemed to be budging on any side.

So one day last week the doorbell rang, and my husband went to answer it.  I was pecking away on some work, so I stayed in my office, and didn’t pay much attention.  I heard my husband talking to someone, and the talking continued for quite a while.  After a few hours, I thought “who on earth could he be talking to?”  so I walked out to see what was going on.  My husband invited me into the room, and there, around the corner, was my brother-in-law!  You could have knocked me over!  Really?!

Yes!

The very first thing that popped into my head were these words that Jesus told us: “go and be reconciled to your brother”.  I think my smile went from ear to ear, and I hugged him.  I can’t tell you how thankful I was to see my brother-in-law standing in my house, wanting to reconcile with his brother.  I can imagine that God was thankful, too.  And I can understand why that is so very important to God.  We are told to love one another.  That doesn’t mean that we have to love everything that someone does.  It doesn’t mean that we have to be supportive of someone else’s bad or immoral behavior.  And it doesn’t mean that we have to be very best friends, either.  But it does mean that we should want in our hearts to be at peace with others.  And when we open ourselves to that peace with others, God’s peace with us can flow more freely.

Are you at peace with your brother, or sister….or friend…or co-worker?  If not, leave your gift in front of the altar, and go and be reconciled!

Lord, you are so loving to tell us how to be at be at peace with you and those around us.  Thank you for showing us the path to your heart.  Thank you for the opportunity to reconcile with our “brothers”.  And thank you for the brothers that show up on our doorsteps to be reconciled to us.  Lord, open our hearts so that we can see our own arrogance, and help us to be open to being reconciled with those who’ve hurt us, or offended us, or who we have allowed to grow away from us.  Lord, teach us how to remain at peace with others, and to avoid those things that hinder our relationships with others, and with you.  Thank you for hearing our prayer, Lord.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD.  2013.  All rights reserved.

Tunnel vision

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”    Matthew 6:31-34

If I brought you to a big department store and told you to buy a particular item, but also told you that I didn’t want you to buy anything that was red in color, I am pretty sure of one thing – you would suddenly see a world filled with red items!  You would have the color red on the brain!  And don’t we do that in other areas of our lives?  I sure do – I probably wouldn’t care 2 cents about a doughnut unless I’m on a no-doughnut diet, then all I can think about it doughnuts.  So when we have a huge need in our lives – whether its about a job and money, or a spouse, or a health problem, or just about anything, it’s hard to think about anything else, even with a huge world around us.

Now, all this being said, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m probably one of the most guilty people in this regard, always hyper-focusing on my needs, no matter how small, and missing the multitude of blessings that I’ve had in my life.  And I tend to quickly forget about the miracles that God has blessed me with, pinging about today, and forgetting about how gracious God has been to me in the past.  In the past few years I have desperately searched for a job, and every day I wake up with unemployment on my mind, go through my day thinking about it and worrying about how long the money will last, and lay in bed at night with my closet of anxieties wide open and spilling out all over me.  Talk about tunnel vision!

A few days ago I heard someone talking about their own experience with unemployment, and they said that Matthew’s words really hit them hard, and they finally realized that they needed to start “seeking first his kingdom”.  And when they did just that, God showed his faithfulness in amazing ways.  They took their eyes off of their problems, and focused on God, and it was only then that God was able to open doors for them “no man can shut”.  WOW!  That hit me hard too!  I have been here, struggling to get through every day, in my own effort, and completely forgetting about the fact that God has a plan for my life, and that it is in HIS time, and HIS way that matters, not mine.  I realized that part of my seeking His kingdom, and His righteousness, means that I have to take my eyes off of the walls of the tunnel around me, and look forward to the beautiful blessings that God has both given me, and has in store for me.  God did NOT bring me out into the desert to die!

There is most definitely a light at the end of this tunnel – it is God’s light, and a world of his blessing and love for me, and for you.  Seek that first!

Heavenly Father, you are so amazing!  You have given us your word and your promises, wrapped in your grace.  Thank you for the blessings that you’ve given us, and help us to remember those blessings when we feel like that tunnel may never end.  Help us to see your light.  We ask for your strength and grace, and the peace that only comes from you, and to help us keep our eyes on YOU, not our problems.  Lord, help us to seek you first, always – and to hold on to you in every circumstance.  Thank you for the people that you place in our lives who remind us that you are a faithful God, and who remind us to never forget that.  Forgive us when we get wrapped up in our selves, and deliver us from our self-pity and self-centered ways.  Lord, we pray all of these things in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD. 2013.  All rights reserved.