Greetings Dear Reader,
There is a meme that makes the circuit from time to
time. “At some point in your childhood,
you and your friends went outside to play together for the last time and nobody
knew it”. I cannot find the source of
the quote but its value deserves recognition.
Separation by time and tide is not always known in
advance. I did not know on a Friday
during my sophomore year in college that when I said goodbye to my friend
Laura, that she would be dead before our lunch plans for Monday. When I was unkind for a moment and it really
hurt her feelings, I had no idea that it would be the last moment we shared in
the crucible.
The fire of time and destiny burns always but sometimes it
flares into painful intensity without warning.
It burns away someone we love without so much as a “by your leave.” The crucible does not care how we feel about
it. It fiercely burns away a piece of
our heart and moves on to the next moment.
We know this is true and yet we still withhold love from
each other. We see it happen and do not
learn the lesson of loving in the moment.
I carry the memory and consequences of my failure to do this. There were people I refused to interact with
for what I thought were good reasons. I
am working to mend my part of the problem.
Still there are people we claim to love with whom we will
not speak with or show love. We cannot
fail to show love and claim to love. It
does not work. We are supposed to
forgive before sunset, restore in love, and endure all things for the sake of
love. When we do not we risk that flash
of the crucible claiming someone we have rejected and leaving us unable to make
peace, restore the relationship, or cure our own bitterness.
We dismiss the need to forgive and heal telling ourselves we
will do it when we are ready. This is a
great lie. Failure to forgive daily
gives purchase to evil. It gives a
foothold to all of the things that destroy relationships. We argue against forgiveness with thoughts on
how we will forgive when we are ready.
We tell ourselves we will heal the relationship later, forgetting that
we are not even guaranteed the next grain of sand.
We talk about the other person’s need to do this or that
first. We say as if our own wrongs have
not tempted others to give up on us. Friends
and family members who we have spurned die without warning and we must carry
the hateful words we left in their ears unresolved. We must live with knowing we owed them love
and genuine forgiveness. We are now
required to endure the crucible of time without another opportunity to show
that person their value and worth just because they exist.
We rarely know when “see you tomorrow” is a lie. I cannot afford to dwell in this crucible
with hatred in my heart. I cannot endure
the thought of not doing my best to show love to everyone in every moment and
then never having another moment to show that love again. I cannot follow Christ and carry the burden
of not making the most of the moments he gives me with others.
We do not know what tomorrow holds. I urge you Dear Reader, and remind my own
heart not to carry anything that resembles anger or bitterness toward
anyone. It is just too painful and heavy
for this journey. Besides, all of us know
that there are memories of the last time that are good and sweet because we
treated each other well. Those carry us
on the journey and protect us from the fire in which we burn.
You never thought you were together for the last time.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
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