A Genuine Hug

John 20:22-23
And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

I will trust in You, even in the moments
I can’t find you, and I will hold on to
Your promises of love
You’ve never failed before

I know You can hear me
When the silence is deafening
Even though You seem far away
And I know You’re here with me
But I just need faith to see
Nothing can separate me from Your love
-Can Anybody Hear Me Meredith Andrews

Genuine reconciliation makes me want to burst out in tears. It does something that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside. It realigns everything and makes all things right again. It gives me closure and makes my heart smile. 

Recently I came across an old friend. This friend and I used to be super close. SUPER SUPER close, okay I may be exaggerating just a little bit. Anyway I considered this friend to be one of the "best". I had a lot of fun with this person. I made many cherished memories with this person. I tried to stay close to my friends from middle school but the distance allowed us to drift apart.

I didn't know why I was not as close to this person as I used to be. After time flew by there was some sort of "dislike" in the air. Whenever thoughts of my old friend came up there was always this negative connotation emanating from ideas of this person. My friend became a stranger.

I saw this person recently and I avoided this person like one would avoid the plague. I didn't want to talk to my old friend. I didn't know why. Maybe because as time passed this person changed or maybe I changed and the person stayed the same. Maybe it was because this person said something to hurt my feelings. What was I thinking? Why was I thinking about everything that happened in the past?

The past is the past what I do or rather what I did I cannot change. What people did to me will not change. Life is a journey and if I want to get anywhere I have to start looking straight ahead. I have to step on the gas and move forward. If I'm too busy looking in the rear view mirror I will not move in the right direction and I will probably crash. That cause many more problems. So as the Robinson family always said "keep moving forward." I must forget in order to forgive and I must forgive in order to live.

Anyway back to the point. So at the end of the day. I just had this pull to hug my friend. I just wanted to take all my love that I felt at that very moment and pour it into my friend. I wanted the hug to say I forgive you; please forgive me; lets start over. It wasn't one of those hugs that you give to people just because. It was a hug like what another friend of mine called genuine. That hug brought me what I really needed. It opened my heart to see that forgiveness and closure was easily attainable if I was open to the idea. I was over flowing with joy. I don't know if you have ever felt that feeling in your heart it just feels nice. It makes you want to smile. It gives you peace. That day the Holy Spirit worked in me and closed up some holes that have been open way too long.

I hope that short moment did something in that persons life to fill my friend with happiness.



Luke 6:35-38;42
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." ... How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.