Familial Reconciliation: Not Just for the Holidays!
As we’ve all been informed, Thanksgiving is a few days away, and Christmas is just a few weeks away! Woo-hoo! Food! Presents! Time off from work! And . . . family? We all have those days when we need time away from family, but sometimes people make mistakes and things can get a little more serious. Worst-case-scenario: someone ends up holding a grudge against a certain member (or members) of the family. When this happens, we may try to make and take check-in phone calls, attend birthday parties, and make holiday visits, but where did our warm, familial, loving spirit go? Why aren’t our hearts in the right place? What could possibly be so unforgivable that anyone would sit out a party game just to avoid eye contact with someone, or choose a seat at the dinner table by, shall we say, an odd member of the extended family just to avoid conversation with a person they’re upset with?
At times like these, when we’re face-to-face with the holiday season, one must invoke the Golden Rule; there’s not a better time to forgive, accept, move forward and “kill em with kindness” than right before you’ll be seeing your family’s faces up close and personal (whether you try to avoid them or not). In light of the time of year that is upon us, compiled below are some quotes on reconciling with loved ones and the importance of family year-round. Tis the season for forgiveness.
“If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth.” ~ Timothy B. Tyson
“Forgiveness is the virtue of the courageous, the response of the forgiven, the mercy of the just.” ~ Ron Brackin
“How can you love those who have stolen from you, assaulted or abused you, or tried to blow you up and completely destroy you? How can you forgive those who have kidnapped, tortured and killed someone you love? Yet this is where reconciliation has to begin.” ~ Andrew White
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” ~ Ghandi
“The overall purpose of human communication is – or should be – reconciliation. It should ultimately serve to lower or remove the walls of misunderstanding which unduly separate us human beings, one from another.” ~ M. Scott Peck
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
“You cannot disown what is yours. Flung out, there is always the return, the reckoning, the revenge, perhaps the reconciliation. There is always the return.” ~ Jeanette Winterson
“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” ~ Steve Maraboli
“To err is human, to forgive, divine.” ~ Alexander Pope
“True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
“Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.” ~ Will Smith
“When you forgive, you love.” ~ Jon Krakauer
“With friends, if you keep making an effort to reach out and you keep getting hurt, you eventually stop trying. But it’s much harder to give up on family. Somewhere deep down you want it to work so badly that you keep making the same mistake over and over again.” ~ Tori Spelling
“One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.” ~ Socrates
“Forgiveness, which is the place that every story turns, the chance we give each other.” ~ Beth Kephart
“There is no such thing as a broken family.’ Family is family, and is not determined by marriage certificates, divorce papers, and adoption documents. Families are made in the heart. The only time family becomes null is when those ties in the heart are cut. If you cut those ties, those people are not your family. If you make those ties, those people are your family. And if you hate those ties, those people will still be your family because whatever you hate will always be with you.” ~ C. Joybell C.
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” ~ Jane Howard
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It happens to every family. Things are humming along smoothly when suddenly they realize that life is not just a bowl of cherries. An unlooked for event, crisis, or trial threatens to upset th…
Life Happens
Teresa Clark
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