Lost Love Sought

If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Romans 12:18

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s parents so disapproved of her marriage to Robert Browning that they disowned her. For ten years, Elizabeth wrote love letters to her parents seeking reconciliation, but with no reply. Then a large box arrived in the mail from her parents. Excitedly she opened it, only to find all of her letters to her parents unopened and unread.

We know Elizabeth Browning’s love letters today as some of the most beautiful in all of classical English literature. They would have been even more famous if they had stirred the reconciliation with her parents that she longed for. Given Elizabeth’s experience, some might say, “See, what’s the use? All that work and no results.” But if only one letter out of the hundreds had been read, and it had healed the relationship between daughter and parents, all her labor would have been repaid.

Restoring relationships is not easy. It requires death to oneself, obedience to God, and love for others—just what Christ displayed when He reconciled us to the Father. Be Christlike today, and restore a lost love.

No one ever said reconciliation was easy—just desirable, possible, and much more joyful than the alternative.