Reconciliation – Keys to Peace and Restoration

One of the first election promises the Rudd government delivered on was the national apology to the Indigenous peoples of Australia for previous governments’ creation and mishandling of the Stolen Generations debacle. It was step one in the harmonisation process of seeking to correct the wrong in these affected peoples’ lives, and a national government (representing previous ones) seeking forgiveness.

This process of reconciliation is an important one. Even though many bigoted white Australians have been offended by this move, not getting the fact that this is a ‘national’ apology,[1] not a personal one, most people will inevitably see this as a way forward toward everyone working together, for good.

The same principles apply at the spiritual level. I’ve been studying and writing about rejection. The key final process of assuaging rejection is meeting the people who rejected us and forgiving them. We do this to our direct benefit, notwithstanding theirs.

It will not be an understatement to say that for some this will be incredibly difficult. Some people have copped abuse from family members or have even had criminal acts committed against them.

For at least a portion of the Indigenous population, the National Apology was a salving start; a key first step in their forgiving of this Nation’s errant policy of bygone years. Of course, this forgiveness is given in faith.[2]

When we seek peace and restoration through the forgiving of people who’ve wronged us we too do it in faith; and this faith is about what God can do in our hearts to smoothen out the billowed clouds of disappointment and rejection that continue to hold us back.

And from a person who’s seen how God works, in this way, I can testify that he wants us to test his faithfulness in this area. We can often powerfully wrest control of our own destinies from the devil when we courageously and actively seek to reconcile those past travesties. We just must remain faithful through the process, that’s all. Once we’ve started, we must continue right throughout the journey of the remainder of our lives.

The courage of faith is required; much prayer, belief and a plan. Time is no healer in the real scheme of things, only forgiveness toward restoration is. And this is true for us all.

Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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ENDNOTES:
[1] When anyone who’s fair-minded considers that on average the indigenous person dies some 17 years earlier than the Caucasian Australian and other Australians, they are almost certainly given to mild disgust. This disparity can be linked to socio-economic reasons of the system; a system that has created both tangible and intangible health disadvantages for the indigenous Australian. True reconciliation sees this (Indigenous health) as the key output/outcome measure toward the success of the process over the next few generations--this problem, created over generations, can’t be fixed overnight.
[2] The challenge for the National Rudd Government is to back the apology with Policy that will derive social and economic freedom for the Indigenous people of Australia--at least freedom on the same level as that enjoyed by the rest of the Australian populace.