If we are to walk as Children of Light, we are also called to resist discord and strife.  Broken relationships are the manifestation of hearts that are tearing apart, if not broken completely.  The world offers all sorts of "fixes" for the hunger for meaningful relationships, but those fixes are nothing more than smoke and mirrors.  Read today's lesson from 1 John.

So... consider this:  There's a section in the greeting card department now, kind of mixed in with other "special occasions".  It generally has two or three selections at least -- and the theme of the section is "I am sorry.  I messed up.  Will you forgive me?"  So it is clear that the idea of working towards reconciliation has become a marketable notion, right there with wishing others well, extending sympathy, and recognizing rites of passage.  

To be sure, greeting cards are nice.  However, they sometimes enable us to hide behind the veil of distance.  It is so much more difficult to walk up to somebody I have hurt, to look them in the eye and say, "I am sorry."  Sometimes there is that awkward moment, when the words dangle in the air between me and the other.  I truly don't know if they will be accepted.  Will the other look at me in stoney silence and then turn and walk away?  Perhaps.  

What then?  How do we reconcile when the other turns away?  Perhaps that is an opportunity to embrace another aspect of forgiveness which is often equally elusive.  Perhaps we have some time then to work through what it means to forgive ourselves for whatever part we played in the rift.  Perhaps we have time to wonder about and pray about the amazing gift of forgiveness uttered by Jesus on the cross when he said, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do!" 

Bottom line, Jesus forgave us before the final offering of his last breath.  He forgave us before we knew we needed forgiveness, while humanity's back was turned away from him.  He was reconciled with us even as he was assuring our reconciliation with God until the end of the ages.  

Thoughts about what Jesus did in his last moments may make the idea of sending an "I am sorry" card seem so trivial... but you know what?  Sending a card may be a start!