Restore it!

I have been a mediator for several years now.  I began with my organization through Harris County and was able to participate in cases within my department.  Initially I did not think this was a process that would work.  I quickly discovered the many benefits of mediation. 

While I saw it work in many cases, I was intrigued as to what the long term results might be.  My interest extended to reconcilation and restoration of relationships.  I pursued my Master's Degree in Conflict Resolution and Reconcilation.  Reconcilation, now there's a word.  We can reconcile and we can shake hands at the end but what about the relationship?

So many times, relationships are fragmented due to the most simple issues.  Barriers are built, walls are erected and relationships are broken.  It has to go beyond settling the conflict.  There are family members that have not spoken in years, friends that have turned their backs on each other over "words" and marriages that are no more for the slightest reasons.  This affects not only the two parties involved but also children, alliances and family members.  This is not the way God intended things to be.

Oh don't get me wrong....settling and agreeing are good things but too many of us give up there walking away with sour hearts. What about restoring the relationship?  

My garage is full of things that I am going to "restore" one day.  Some of those things are precious.  I have a beautiful wooden doll chair that needs paint striping and new paint.  I also have a couple of baby rocking chairs that need to be sanded and re-stained.  As soon as I can get to it they will be for my little niece.  That, unfortunately will take weeks for me, but I will do it.  I want to see the new product, I want to see new life in these items, I want to enjoy them.

So yesterday as I'm driving along, I heard a pastor say "We will spend hundreds of hours restoring an antique but won't give 10 minutes to restoring a relationship." Oops....and you know we say "oops" because those words ring true.  "I can't talk to my mother she's impossible" or "That man does not deserve 10 minutes of my time" or "My daughter quit school-she made her bed let her lie in it."

Sometimes we may have the attitude that I have with the items in my garage....one day!  One day I will get to it, one day I will work on restoring it.  The difference is that those things don't breathe, they don't have life.  If we put "restoring relationships" on the shelf, we may not get a second chance. 

Many walk around in life with broken and heavy hearts knowing in their own mind that things will never change yet the God of the universe has deomonstrated His power over and over again in relationships. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we should stay in a relationship that is destructive and damaging but I am saying that too many times the enemy works on the family structure that God ordained.  It is God who restores, it is He who heals, it is He who can do great and mighty things.

If there is a relationship that you need to work on restoring, rely on God's hand, His mercy, His direction and His power. He showed Joshua that He was able to take down the Jericho wall, He can surely tear down the walls we build.  God not only delivered Jericho into their hands but also it's king and the fighting men.  For us, the benefit will be more than a torn down wall, it will also be relationship.

Go ahead....take it to it's original state-restore it!

Then the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men." When the trumpet sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight and they took the city.   Joshua 6:2; 20