It’s a sobering thought that reconciliation sometimes will not…can not…happen between two people estranged.  Forgiveness is a solo choice.  I can decide to forgive for Christ’s sake, for my own health, whether or not the other person ever repents, or is even still a part of my life.

But reconciliation (the building of bridges and mending of fences, the mutual changing from enemies to something else) — that takes two people willing to turn and look at the other, to try to understand and step into where the other one lives.  And sometimes a face seems set in stone.  Sometimes the door has closed on the opportunity to make things right.

Where does that leave a heart longing for a change?  It leaves us leaning on the heart of Jesus, Who of all people knows how it feels to pursue reconciliation with ones unwilling.  Yet one more way we can share in His sufferings, and get a glimpse into His dear heart.

Lord, help me to hunger for Your resurrection power in my life, bringing new life into all the hopeless places I am tempted to give up on.  Help me to lean hard on You when I feel the wounds of sin, because you bore those wounds in Your body so that I might be healed.  Help me to trust You to make all things new and throw open all the doors and windows of possibility in my life.  Hallelujah, Christ is risen!