Have No Hard Feelings!
"Then Joseph fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck
and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover
Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept over them."
Genesis 45: 14-15
In 1952, songwriters Al Hoffman and Dick Manning composed a
song that was popularized by the legendary singer, Pearl Bailey:
“Takes Two to Tango.” Since, this phrase “it takes two to tango”
has become a metaphor for the necessity of cooperation
between two or more parties.
In relationships, divisions and arguments take two parties. But it only
takes one of the parties to stop the destructive “dance” and initiate a
reconciliation. The apostle Paul highlights this responsibility when he
wrote this: “as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men”
(Romans 12:18). Joseph took on that responsibility in Egypt when he
decided it was time to heal the rift between himself and his brothers.
He revealed his identity to them and assured them that there were no
hard feelings for what they'd done to him twenty years earlier. Their
tearful reconciliation proved that it only takes one person to build the
bridge that can bring warring parties together.
Are you involved in a destructive “dance”?
Can you be the one to “live peaceably” and
reach out for reconciliation? It only takes one.
"Forgiveness is to be set loose from sins."
G. Campbell Morgan
