Excerpt from Colossians 1:15-28

"And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

I once was talking with someone toward the end of his life, and with his last breaths he was saying, "Do not call my brother. We don't speak. I don't want him involved in any decisions."  I knew that these two siblings had always been at odds with one another, but with the pain of illness, as death grew closer, the bitterness between them grew as well. I wished it could be different. I had hoped that as one brother grew closer to death, they might grow closer to one another. I had hoped that they might reconcile but instead the animosity grew more intense.

There would be no Hallmark card moment for these two brothers, no tender deathbed reconciliation. After years of going to bed angry, the dying man was now going to his deathbed angry.

I didn't judge the anger. I had heard the reasons for it, and I would be angry, too. But I still grieved the estrangement and hostility. I wished it could be different.

When earthly reconciliation cannot happen, or does not happen, this scripture comforts me. Paul promises a moment in heaven when those of us who have been hostile and estranged will one day be presented to our creator as holy and blameless, all through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.

Since eternity exists outside of space and time, we may well experience that resurrection moment all together, regardless of when or where we die.

So be prepared to one day see your most caustic relationship redeemed. And in the meantime, let's pray for earthly reconciliation as well.

Prayer

God, you know exactly where my hostility and estrangement lie. Is there something you can do about that? If not now, then one day, after this worldly race is run. Amen.