RECONCILIATION
The principle of reconciliation is the foundation upon which people of The Way confidently shake up the world, knowing the world will come together again. Every time I drive into a large city, I visualize what that city would look like, in one hundred years, if people stopped city maintenance. Have you ever calculated how much of your time and resources is consumed by maintenance?
Once upon a time I owned a commercial cleaning company. We cleaned many office buildings in the Houston metropolitan area. If it weren’t for the people who gathered and took out the trash everyday, those big "aquariums" would shortly become uninhabitable. In contrast, the Wilderness contains a power that incorporates constant change with reconciliation.
A river follows the down hill contours of the earth, moving with tremendous power toward the sea. As the river travels it is constantly carving out earth, occasionally uprooting a tree or other clinger-on in spectacular fashion. However, the river is not at war with the earth. The river redistributes nutrients to farmland and fills the sea with water, continuing the cycle that redistributes life giving water. The relationship of powerful change and reconciliation are a model of wilderness harmony.
The time line of Jacob’s flight and his reconciliation describes the power of reconciliation.
CHAOS
1. Jacob steals Isaac’s blessing from his brother Esau.
2. Jacob is sent away to live in Padam Aram to the house of Laban, Rebekah’s brother.
3. Esau seeks to fortify his position by taking Mahalath, the daughter of Ismael to be his wife.
RECONCILIATION
4. Jacob goes into the wilderness and dialogs with God who gives Jacob peace by assuring him that he is doing fine and that he will be reconciled into God’s plan.
5. Jacob marries Leah and Rachel, beginning a family and career. Chaos and reconciliation are companions in the building of this mixed family and this career.
6. Jacob and his household returns to the land of his father; chaos and reconciliation remain hand in hand. The story culminates with Jacob wrestling with God until the moment Jacob is confronted with his life and death decision. It turns out that this night is the climax of the story.
7. Jacob and Esau meet and Jacob discovers that peace was already in place.
Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. Genesis 33: 1-4
Next time you are in the city paint an imaginary picture of your view returning to wilderness. It happens all the time. There is a power greater than human industry. What are you willing to live and die for?
Once upon a time I owned a commercial cleaning company. We cleaned many office buildings in the Houston metropolitan area. If it weren’t for the people who gathered and took out the trash everyday, those big "aquariums" would shortly become uninhabitable. In contrast, the Wilderness contains a power that incorporates constant change with reconciliation.
A river follows the down hill contours of the earth, moving with tremendous power toward the sea. As the river travels it is constantly carving out earth, occasionally uprooting a tree or other clinger-on in spectacular fashion. However, the river is not at war with the earth. The river redistributes nutrients to farmland and fills the sea with water, continuing the cycle that redistributes life giving water. The relationship of powerful change and reconciliation are a model of wilderness harmony.
The time line of Jacob’s flight and his reconciliation describes the power of reconciliation.
CHAOS
1. Jacob steals Isaac’s blessing from his brother Esau.
2. Jacob is sent away to live in Padam Aram to the house of Laban, Rebekah’s brother.
3. Esau seeks to fortify his position by taking Mahalath, the daughter of Ismael to be his wife.
RECONCILIATION
4. Jacob goes into the wilderness and dialogs with God who gives Jacob peace by assuring him that he is doing fine and that he will be reconciled into God’s plan.
5. Jacob marries Leah and Rachel, beginning a family and career. Chaos and reconciliation are companions in the building of this mixed family and this career.
6. Jacob and his household returns to the land of his father; chaos and reconciliation remain hand in hand. The story culminates with Jacob wrestling with God until the moment Jacob is confronted with his life and death decision. It turns out that this night is the climax of the story.
7. Jacob and Esau meet and Jacob discovers that peace was already in place.
Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. Genesis 33: 1-4
Next time you are in the city paint an imaginary picture of your view returning to wilderness. It happens all the time. There is a power greater than human industry. What are you willing to live and die for?
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