The Draft (01/15/2025)

In late September, a friend I hadn’t heard from in some time emailed me with some surprising news. I read the email and responded immediately. And then I never heard back. I was concerned because I feared my response had missed the mark or, worse yet, offended. I had thought of it often over the course of the past three months. I’d decided I needed to reach out again if I didn’t hear back by the end of this month.

Then yesterday, I was having lunch with a different friend, but a friend to both of us, and he mentioned the other’s concern because he’d never heard back from me. I immediately retorted that I’d responded but was concerned because he’d not answered my response. And then I said, “Here, I’ll show you.” And I went into my emails, did a search, and found my response. The time stamp showed I’d done it right away that day. But then at the top, in red letters, was the word “Draft”.

I shared with my friend yesterday that I thought I’d sent it. I dug a little deeper and found the sentence on the draft by the provider: “Something went wrong….” You think?

Here all these months, my friend thought I’d not responded. And all these months, I’d thought my friend was offended or hurt by something I wrote in my response. And I couldn’t believe that all these months passed, and I didn’t try to find out what was really going on. That’s on me.

Life is complicated. While technology can assist us at times, it can also complicate things at times. But relationships are just that – relationships! If something isn’t right, it is up to us to strive to make them right. I should not have let nearly four months pass without finding out what was really going on.

Last evening, I reached out to my friend, explained “the glitch of the draft” and re-sent what I thought I’d successfully sent months ago. And then I took it all to prayer. I prayed that my friend will forgive my lack of follow through when I sensed something wasn’t right. I prayed that in the future, I will be more attentive to my relationships and any signs that warrant my attention or work.

Our lives and our journeys are all about relationships. We are created in relationship for relationship with our loving LORD and with one another. Our relationships are the matter on which we will be judged, not our wealth, not our accolades, not our possessions. As Micah tells us, “You know what is required: to do justice, to love relationship, and to walk humbly with your LORD.” And relationships should be our daily concern. Anything so essential requires attention, care, effort. Let us commit to working daily on that which really matters.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.