We Celebrate our Differences but:

He came to America some time in the 1880s, an immigrant from Scandinavia, a skilled carpenter; he came seeking opportunity and employment. He brought with him a tool box and some box planes made with his own hands, tools with which he hoped to ply his trade.

She came on a boat from Sweden in 1891. The eighty-one dollar fare was paid by a stranger from Chicago in exchange for cooking, cleaning, and sewing.

Gus and Emma met in Chicago; he was about ten years older than she. Jobs were scarce at the time, so after they married they moved to the small town of East Troy, Wisconsin. Though Gus had excellent skills, there was no place to use them, so he took up farming.

Unsuccesful after fifteen years of farming, the family moved to Milwaukee where Gus took a job as night watchman for a dairy. He died within a few years and Emma moved into a single-room downtown apartment.

For the opportunity to come to the United States, Emma became the indentured servant of a man she had never seen; Gus gave up a promising future in the carpentry trade for ordinary employment.

Gus and Emma Anderson were my grandparents. Life did not treat them fairly. Grandma was seventy-six when she was hit by a drunken driver who ran a red light while making an illegal left turn. In spite of the conditions of the event, the court ruled she died of old age and natural causes. Most of the insurance money went toward attorney's fees, leaving the family with funeral debt.

Why do I write these things? Because my grandparents lived as examples of reconciliation. They were not bitter or mean spirited because of their situation. They did not blame the world around them for their less than enviable circumstances. They were content with who and what they were. When Grandma was killed there was great injustice done but the family they raised did not sue either the judge, the lawyer, or the drunk driver. They simply saw that life was life and they needed to get on with it. I don't know whether my grandfather knew about reconciliation to God, but my grandmother did.

Everyone does not get raised in wonderful circumstances. Most of us need to be reconciled with who, what, and where we are. Think of Paul who wrote, "I am what I am by the grace of God!" (1 Cor. 15:10) He was well educated but frequently imprisoned. He had risen in the ranks of Judaism but renounced it for the sake of his Lord. He said he had learned to live with both much and little (Phil. 4). He was looking at life from a different perspective. He did not fight and fume when injustice was done to him. He was at peace with God. Did he not speak of the believer as having this priceless blessing in Romans 5:1?

Reconciliation means solving a problem with self, situation, life, enemies, friends, God, and family. It means being brought into harmony with them. Some might consider reconciliation as being only relative to God, but that is just not the case. We are told to be reconciled with friend and enemy (note: "brother" Matt. 5:24, "spouse" 1 Cor. 7:11, and "master [boss] 1 Sam. 29:4). Paul charges us with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-19) put in our hands by God. The Body of Christ is the reconciling of both Jew and Gentile to God through Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20). Twelve of the twenty-three times the word occurs in Scripture are in the Pauline letters; nine are in the Old Testament. One could say this is, by preponderance of usage, a Pauline theme.

In the light of practicing this truth, grudges and feuds have to go! Differences will remain, but differences can occur without stress, anger, and rancor. Perhaps it is time to begin observing whether or not we are evidencing the validity of this charge from God in our lives by both word and action. Churches and families have been torn apart by things that are of little consequence in the scheme of eternity. Perhaps they are even of little concern in matters of this life.

May God help us to be reconciled with life, others, self, church, etc. May we, like my grandparents, take what life offers without becoming bitter or angry, having reconciled ourselves to who and what we are.

Last Updated: 12/20/1999