A Handshake

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 NKJV

What price for a handshake? In the case of the Queen of the UK, and Martin McGuinness, deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, an ex IRA Commander, quite a lot. Many maimed and lost lives to be exact. Lives on both sides of the sectarian divide in the Island of Ireland, all lost needlessly, but on Wednesday, they will meet and shake hands. If you are reading this from outside the UK, it should be remembered that the Island of Ireland hosts two separate countries. The nation of Ireland, and the North of the Island comprising six counties which are very British, and a proud part of the United Kingdom. An island divided, and that division kept by donations from IRA sympathisers in the USA particularly.

When we got into scraps in our youth, the hardest part was shaking hands after the fight. Fighting was easy, once you had decided who your enemy was. Then all you had to do was keep in mind all the reasons why you hated that person, and keep it alive in your mind at all and any cost. Countries at war are no different. Our enemies are decided, and we fight to protect our strongly held views. Each side will fight to the death, literally, and at times no quarter is asked for, or given. Such is war, and such were ‘the troubles’ in Northern Ireland.

On a personal level, we don’t get on well with everybody in our daily lives. In fact, there are those we could well do without knowing, or communicating with. We grit our teeth, and make the most of a bad lot, making sure our ‘enemy’ gets the message while we smile, that we are putting up with them, and wouldn’t go out of our way to help them. Ever! They get the message, and so do we. We keep the dislike alive in our heads at all and any cost, and we pay the price. What is that cost I wonder? Probably a hardened heart, and an unforgiving spirit, which saps at our very life and makes us someone different than we should be, and less than God intends. I wonder if Jesus was thinking of people like the British Queen and Martin McGuinness making that handshake, or maybe you and me? In both cases, we need the message of forgiveness, and God knows it!