Friendships Left Behind and Forgiveness

My hubby with Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty in the background
Could I leave him behind?  Or let him go on ahead without me?

As you may have guessed by now, I was quite impressed with our visit to Ellis Island.  (Read previous posts here and here.)  I’ve been thinking a lot about what it would have been like to go through that experience and wondering if I would have had the faith to trust God to provide the better future these immigrants sought, and if I would have been able to leave everyone I loved behind.

The primary feeling that I think I would have been going through would have been loss…loss of home and homeland, loss of friends, loss of family.  I think that maybe that’s because I’m blessed to have a beautiful home, a wonderful country (even considering the flaws), dear friends, and a devoted family.  For me to leave all this behind would be devastating to me. 

Yet millions of people did just this. 

Their lives must have been so challenging and lacking hope to embark upon a journey to America, leaving everything behind, in search of a brighter future, hoping and trusting in God to find something better.  How lucky we are/I am.  Their primary feelings had to have been one of hope in order to get through this challenging experience.

Yet, no matter how much hope for the future they might have had, parting from family and friends could not have been easy.  The chance of ever again seeing the people left behind was very small.

This thought makes me wonder how easily we sometimes dismiss a friendship because of some temporarily hurtful slight; or how often we distance ourselves from a family member because he/she hurt our feelings.  If we were faced with the prospect of never seeing that person again, would those hurts matter so much?

Sometimes we find ourselves in exactly this situation, when we lose someone we love unexpectedly in their death.  How often have we heard people say, “I never got to say I was sorry” or “I never told him I forgive him” or “I didn’t get to say goodbye” or “I should have told her I loved her.”

I wonder if this doesn’t happen sometimes as a way of reminding us to mend our hearts and watch our words, to heal old wounds and let go of old hurts.   I imagine that faced with the prospect of parting company forever, there were many friendship healed of brokenness and many family fractures mended.

However, I am also fairly certain there were those who would not forgive and left for America carrying that hurt with them.  I imagine that carrying those unforgiven hurts around their whole life may have caused much bitterness, heartache and soul-searching.  I am certain there were more than a few people who wished, at some point during their lives, that they had made amends or offered forgiveness before leaving for America.

We know that anger, resentment, and holding on to old hurts can eat away at our souls, our health and our mental well-being. 

It is forgiveness which offers freedom, wellness and wholeness.   Jesus taught us this as He called out to His Father on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”   Luke 23:34

In the ultimate act of love, Jesus forgave us ALL our sins… all the hurtful ways we push God away… and died to set us free from the bondage that sin causes.  We are given that reminder every Sunday in worship. 

Let us not forget to forgive others, as we have been forgiven.  Amen.

Come worship with us this Summer @ 9:30 am on Sundays (through Labor Day).

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