Reconciliation

Last Thanksgiving, our family had a reminder of why we should never give up hope that a soured relationship can be healed.  We were visiting my cousin who lives in Washington DC for the holiday.

My uncle lives in California though was working at that time, unbeknownst to us on the East Coast.  The night before Thanksgiving, he rang my cousin to say hello.  There had been little communication between him and any of our family for years.  When she realised where he was, she invited him to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. (He was a 12 hour drive away). He had had no contact with any of us since  2011). It has been especially hard on his eldest son, who is my first cousin. There had been no communication between them for many years even though my cousin had visited his parents about 3 years ago with his new wife. (My uncle and his wife had refused to go to the wedding and hadn't acknowledged either of them the 3 days they visited them in CA). So there was a lot of hurt and hard feelings between people and I didn't know if they'd even be able to stay in the same room.

Throughout Wednesday night, I kept praying with the idea that' ‘right motives give pinions to thought...' and that my cousin's motive in inviting him had been prompted by love and that there couldn't be any penalties. There was simply no space for hurt feelings or resentment in the presence of omnipresent and omnipotent Love.

During Thanksgiving, everyone talked socially and seemed genuinely interested in one another's activities. It was as if it was a gathering of people who were getting to know one another with no past baggage.  It went very harmoniously and while my uncle and his son may never be close as they are 2 very different people with very different interests, it was very much a reconciliation and quite calm and unemotional. My cousin who was hosting dinner, commented how it had all gone so much better than she could have hoped.

It truly was an event to be thankful for on Thanksgiving!