Friday, March 01, 2013

Time Flies - How's Your Conversation Skills?


My family on my mother’s side is planning a reunion. One of my cousins has taken on the task and I’m so grateful to her. It’s a monumental effort to find a place, figure out the feeding of people and make sure everyone is happy with their surroundings. It’s also tough to figure out who will come and who won’t be able to make it. Many of my cousins (along with my own brother) are teetering on their 70’s. It gets harder to navigate and age creeps up on us all without warning. You never hear age say, “Hello, I’m Age, I’m coming after you and I will catch you”.

While getting in touch with various cousins, I found one particular cousin’s email bounced back. So knowing he had email through his business, I contacted him there. I got a response from him. He’s been sick and won’t be able to make it to the reunion. Although we were together just a little over a year ago, I had not talked with him all that time. So I was shocked to find out he had been very ill. His progress into healing will be slow as well.

Often we get out of touch with family because of daily life. We get busy, time flies and next thing you know we don’t have any contact with them for months, sometimes years. Other times it’s because of a simple misunderstanding or hurt feelings. It’s easier to stay away from the person who hurt you or someone who misunderstood you. It doesn’t take long to fill in the gaps of family time with other things. A good example is drawing a line in the wet sand along the the shore of the ocean. It covers back over and fills in in moments and the next person who comes along doesn’t even know anyone was there.

Maybe you are the one who has been left alone. Someone got offended or didn’t get their way and now you are the one sitting by yourself. Maybe you tried to contact them once or twice, but figured there was no point.  You feel left out, discarded, embarrassed or sorrowful.  Many times you’ve wished you could go back and make things different.  You wrack your brain searching for your mistake and then berate yourself and take all the blame.  Regardless of the reasons, you want to blame yourself and then you want to fix it yourself.

Even if it’s just that time has flown and things got busy, there’s still time to make contact and renew connections, companionship and affection.  

Oh beloved! There’s still time! First things first, pick up your prayer line and talk with Lord. He will direct you and counsel you on which way to go. He is your greatest ally, your best friend and your forever companion. He doesn’t quit you, He won’t turn His back on you and He’ll always be within the breath of a prayer. Even if you’ve been too busy to talk with Him, today is the day and He will answer immediately. He doesn’t hold a grudge or say it’s been too long.

He will speak to your heart and give you instructions if you need to make amends, reach out or start over.  This marvelous relationship we have with our Lord lets us go to Him in prayer for everything! This prayer we pray is no mere memorization of words, but a real conversation with a real and available God. He knows your hurts, He knows the situation, He knows how time flies.  This intimate relationship we can have with the Lord is worth pursuing so that we have His heart about relationships and fellowship and more. 

Then pick up the phone and talk with that long time no see cousin, that old and dear friend, that special someone who hasn’t been in contact in many years.  God will open the doors for you and He will make fellowships sweeter and relationships renewed, if you let Him choose the way. And always remember, God is the way maker, so that if things don’t work out, you are still drawing closer to God with every conversation you hold with Him and that’s something eternal that will never be taken away.

God loves you and He’s for you – that’s why you can talk to Him about anything and everything – now that’s an amazing Savior.

Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever.

I Timothy 2:1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

Philippians 4:6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done.

No comments: