Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

• Matthew 5:23-24

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

• Ephesians 4:32

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

• Colossians 3:12-14

When I was growing up, I would have a friend who suddenly was not my friend anymore.  I would talk about it at home and my folks would say, “That’s water under the bridge.”  They never explained what that meant.  It took at least one decade later when I studied philosophy to understand.

Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, said that you could never go back.  And the example that he used was that if you walked across a shallow river, you could never retrace your steps.  Even if you found your footprints in the mud, the water that you stepped in is now far downstream.

But what if I had said something to my friend that my friend did not like.  In those days, no one claimed “offense.”  What if I did not go with my friend one time when he needed me.  What if my friend found someone new to play with and there was no harm done on either side.

I recently commented on a post that was about three months old.  I check that person’s website every so often, but they rarely write, and I almost never go to the reader page.  There are so many e-mail notifications that I am constantly falling behind.  I would like to be more prompt, and I cannot say that I am that busy.  I have been exhausted lately, and I have more downtime between hours at the computer.

But if you have not gotten a “like” from me lately, I apologize.

But remember that I look through all the “like” that I get, and I pray for those people.  For those who visit every day, know that you are prayed for every day.

This water under the bridge excuse is just an excuse.  We cannot go back to the bridge and see the same water that we saw when we left, but when it is a friend, we can apologize for being distant or not responding in an appropriate time.

We can show love when we have the chance to do so.

Never let a friend disappear by floating down the river on water under the bridge.  At least make an effort.

Now that I have written that sentence… What if it has been decades?  There can still be hope.

My sister told me once that she thought that after our brother and parents died over three months’ time that she would never hear from me again, but we are closer than we have ever been.

When God puts that burden of a friend on your heart… that friend you have not talked to for a long time …  It might just be that the friend needs a friend to call.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.