We’re Related (01/24/2024)

The woman was late. When she did arrive, she was agitated and immediately began to explain that it was because of her impossible neighbors. She went on, at length, about how after recently moving to a new neighborhood, the neighbors in the middle of the block were impossible. And she described them in the most unbecoming manner. When she finished, my niece who was there said simply, “the fat bald man with the fat black dog is my father, and the blonde b is my mother.” The woman looked at my niece, broke into tears, picked up her stuff, and left wiser than she came.

This is a small world wrapped in a big box. This truth of life is very apparent in smaller towns and cities where everyone is related. One learns early to not speak unkindly of another because one never knows who among the listeners might be related. I understand this concept well. My father came from such a small, rural community; several of his brothers married sisters. And just recently, while working at a funeral luncheon, I discovered several family links I hadn’t realized because I am not “from here.” In these circles, one learns to watch their words if they concern others.

I recall as a child the song, “It’s a Small World After All.” I think we would do well to bring it back. It helped us see one another differently. It helped us behave better. Strangers were not “dangers”, they were related somehow.

We are all related, though unique, because we all were created by the same loving LORD. And our redeemer Jesus Christ died upon the cross for all of us, not just some of us. And the LORD’s command to love one another doesn’t come with caveats. It is one of the greatest challenges we face in this day – to look at another with love knowing that our LORD loves this person, too.

Though we are unique, we are called to be united in our love for our LORD and in our love for one another. As sojourners of faith, buoyed by the hope of our LORD’s promise, and fueled by the love the LORD showers upon us daily, let us seek to find the goodness in the other always. Let us during difficult times remember that as Christ hung on the cross for our sins, we were on His mind, as sinners ourselves. And so was the person with whom we struggle. May that point of commonality be a starting point in our building a loving relationship with another.

Until tomorrow, may we all love well.