Thank God

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. ~ Colossians 3:15

There are often times that families are in discord and not speaking to one another. It is a sad situation, no matter what the reason.  Sometimes they reunite just before a loved one passes.  Other times, regret occurs because the loved ones never reconcile before one of them passes away.  

I had a couple of cousins - sisters - that didn't speak for several years.  They were still not even able to be in the same room with one another when it came time to celebrate their mother's 80th birthday.  Just two weeks before the mother passed away at the age of 83, they finally reconciled.  I'm sure it put their mother at ease after all of these years to finally have her family reunited once again and for peace to come back into her family life.

How often do we find ourselves feuding over silly things?  How often do we pull away from family and friends because it seems too difficult for us to swallow our pride to bury the hatchet?  How many of us have been estranged from others and don't even remember the original reason the spat occurred in the first place?

God wants us to fill our hearts and minds with the peace of Christ and to be thankful for all that we have.  This includes being thankful and making peace with all those that are in our lives for one reason or another.  Life is too short to waste on silly, trivial spats that take valuable time away from relationships.  Let us all strive this Thanksgiving to make amends with all those we are in discord with and truly thank the Lord for the many blessings each person is to us in our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, let us always be reminded to never let things come between us and those we love.  Help us to always strive to make amends so that we don't waste the time we have with each person in our lives by fighting, not speaking to one another, or holding grudges.  Help us to always keep our hearts and minds filled with Christ's peace and be thankful for all You have given us.  Amen.

~ Wendy Miller