Hug One Another

One is rude.
The other is mean.
The older one used her words to wound, her tone of voice to scar and get her way.
The other used his five-year-old powers of provocation by taking what is not his and barring the way out of the room.
My niece and nephew at one time spent an entire Saturday morning of energy getting under one another’s skins until it erupted into a full fledged screaming/whining/crying argument. Why can’t they just get along, I think.
Loud THUMPS on the bedroom floor signal me to intervene.
Huffs and Puffs float down the hallway. They deposit themselves on the floor of the kitchen where I am.
“You MAY not treat each other this way. You cannot.”
I turn them both to face me and try to explain to them empathy and love and compassion and how Jesus wants us to act. How He wants us to show each other kindness. I talk to them about forgiveness and living in peace
Hug each other, I tell them. Their embrace is loose without any emotion. They’ve hugged because I’ve asked them to. No more than that.
“Do you forgive her? And do you forgive him?” I look back and forth, see their faces ready to spill.
Yes, and now there are real tears.They are tired of hearing me lecture them about compassion and all they want is real human, connecting touch.
And what do you think they do? They hug ME. For consolation. For forgiveness. For saving.
And by hugging me, they’ve reconciled with each other. For the moment, I’ve been their bridge.
When we grow up, we hurt each other far worse than a few rolled eyes and a GIVE-THAT-BACK! We steal husbands and friendships and parking spaces. We tell lies and tell people off. We passively and aggressively put people on our black lists and we shun and snub. It seems like we hurt each other all the time.
But there is a Bridge. And He’d rather us hug one another, but when we can’t just bring ourselves to throw our arms around the neck of someone who has wounded us in our soul, He is there. We can fall into Him and be reconciled to one another BECAUSE of Him. He saves. He consoles. And He is Grace when we can’t offer any ourselves.
Hug one another and get on that bridge!