This is written immediately following the Memorial Service for former president Ronald Reagan, held in Washington, D.C. on this date. It was a moving service, in good taste that should be minimally objectionable to non-Christians. It was spiritually directed while memorializing the deceased actor/president, Christian in basic emphasis, and serving inspiration to Americans, perhaps all world peoples, to be civil and well minded in their acceptance and relationships. It is my prayer, that this idea – personal inspiration toward friendship, between rich and poor, educated and uneducated – will be respected. Although the relationship of Christ to the individual is the most vital personal consideration, the model indicates relationships between human beings, whether royal or peasant, as important to good life. How do we escape the animosity of high and low, or neighbors and political adversaries, toward each other? Even religious leaders sometimes miss the love of God in their differences. Why is a predilection of good will necessary to careful thought about how people may live together in peace? How can we achieve the large implication of today’s text above? The emphasis of the sense of civility and good spirit in America’s fortieth president will likely be noted in history books as a major influence in ending much of the danger of the Cold War between the east and west. The point is civility, the honest response to the respect one holds for human beings, no matter their status or differences in society.
This last emphasizes the point. As the end of hostile attitudes and the rise of respect between leaders reduce threats of danger on the citizens of the world, so the same spirit reduces suffering for individuals in a family, or between neighbors, or between colleagues. I continue to be startled at the development of negative attitudes in a husband and wife toward each other. Most break-up in a home occurs between two rather decent persons who once believed they loved each other enough to marry, to be intimate, to share life activities and work, to have children, and to grow old together. In counseling with each of the mates I have the feeling that mature and gracious persons could have married this man or woman and gotten on well enough to have a full, happy and satisfying life. But they must separate, they must feel ill toward each other, they must create a financial barrier that will take years before fiscal recovery is gained, they must throw their children into a maelstrom from which the children will not likely fully recover, and they must find new friends while fading from some old ones, from persons who cared about them.
As often as not the break-up is the consequence of flaws that would emerge no matter who either married. We come to marriage and other relationships as well, with attitudes that may be selfish, absent of grace, conditioned by prejudice, without clear consideration for the human situation. Any marriage has some strain, and may break, even if there is no actual separation and divorce. God has called us to better conduct, to better attitudes, to an understanding of others that leads to respect, to acceptance, and may lead back to love for each other. What we need now is grace and love, sweet love. Maturity tends to send us in the right direction. Childishness and prejudice, in home, society or even church, do not. We all are poor in some way. One of the great miracles of a personal life is to die to the old and live to the new – to discover change that objectifies attitudes, personalities, acceptances, and insights. I know loving persons who cannot show love but they love; or humility but they are humble; or their faith but they hold it firmly; and, the listing proceeds. We do well to presume the better side of things for every person until some failure or omission is found out. Now is time to continue prayer and life modeling. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020