A Wednesday Word: Reconcile

So often we think of reconciliation as belonging to the macro-concerns of the world. But while those big "isms" call for the incredibly important work of bringing light to darkness, the work of reconciling is, in a basic way, worked out at a micro level. It begins within each of us. Within our own hearts. Within our own homes.

After all, it is sometimes much easier to love the one across the world than it is to love the friend who posts disagreeable things on Facebook, or the churchgoer who is always first in the potluck line, or the child who wakes us in the middle of the night, or the spouse who drops dirty socks on the floor.

But it is here that the work of reconciling starts. And, perhaps, this is where reconciliation ends, for many of us. If we are only able to ask for repentance for the wrongs we don't personally inflict, or forgiveness for the hurts we don't personally suffer, we haven't really done much of the work of being reconciled. Which means we simply won't be able to address those big, looming wrongs in ways that transcend vague ideas and instead connect heart and soul to create reconciliation that lasts.

If we want to change the world, we must start with those in front of us.
Love well.
​Reconcile.

---