He Will Go All The Way

OK, so today I read this little poem or whatever written by my aunt, Stephanie Pollay.

You have hurt me in the past, yet I hold no grudge.
You have turned your back on me, but I stood behind you.
You have played a part in things I begged you not to do
You've walked away from me....

When you come back, I will meet you halfway
Because... I love you!

She wrote the poem and in her mind it was God speaking. I read it and gained a whole different perspective. I read it as person to person. As people we have those that hurt us and turn on hus and do things we wish they would not. Yet, even then we don't hold a grudge and we stand behind them still to support and encourage.

My mind goes to one of my very best friends and my friendship. This person made some rather poor decisions and I warned her against them. She was an adult and made her own ways. When it all fell apart I was there to help pick up the pieces and start again. I never supported her ways but I was always her friend. True friendship is what I call it. Regardless of what was done or said, I was always there. There were even times when I made my opinions known to her and she became so angry she wouldn't speak to me. Yet when it all was said and done we were still friends. That is because friendship is not based on actions or if we are perfect people or not. It's a deep love that does not have conditions.

Take a family that is torn apart by assumptions and neither side wants to be the one to tear down the walls of hurt and deceit. Love should never be conditional or used to toy with another person. Love should be able to overcome every hardship.

Then my mind drifts to a situation a dear friend of mine is in. What a cost to pay.

My aunt said the poem in her head is like the prodigal son and how the father met him halfway. I've heard it preached over and over in terms of God being the father and us the son and God will meet us in the middle. Today for some reason, it really reached in my spirit and begin to grow. For some reason I couldn't get it off my mind, I begin to wonder about that parable and did it really say they met in the middle? I read that parable of the prodigal son and guess what??? It does NOT say they met in the middle. It says (Luke) that the son said to himself that he would go up to his father and offer to be a servent in his fathers house. He headed home and when he was still afar off the father saw him and ran to him and kissed him. It doesn't say the son ran or that the son met his father in the middle. The father saw him afar and ran. I'm not sure why it strikes me like this. It hit me like a stone, a revelation I guess that we don't have to meet God in the middle. We just have to say to ourselves, we are headed to God and he is waiting for us and when He sees us begin to make our way toward Him, I'm sure tears come to His eyes as He says there is my son or daughter and He runs to US, not US to HIM.

Here is where it really got me, if God were to have met us in the middle... We would have had to go to Calvary, correct? To meet in the middle would have put us at Calvary. Instead God went all the way for us. That really got to me that the Love of God is so far reaching that when we can't reach up, it reaches down to us.

To me that is the best love.

On the other hand of that, this same poem spoke to me of forgiveness. I've heard so man people say with words that they forgive but really don't forgive. Forgiveness is letting it go when we are hurt or wronged. Forgiveness is sometimes never getting an apology but loving them anyways. Forgiveness is overlooking the things that don't really matter. Forgiveness is reaching out to those who turned their backs on you. It's not letting issues get between you but climbing over the little speedbumps because they really don't matter. It's letting all the bitterness go and just looking forward. It's something we have to chose to do and it's hard and sometimes it hurts and it doesn't seem far... Forgive!!!