Broken Arrow

This morning in a haze of sleepiness, I heard the phone ring and ring. It was so early, too early. I kept ignoring it until my subconscious started to alert me that if someone was calling over and over again, there may be some sort of emergency. I opened one eye, grabbed the phone and I called the last number that had called by hitting redial. The person on the other end of the line was frantic and alarmed because of a conflict with a loved one. Both parties had been calling me to talk about this unbelievable misunderstanding between two friends that had blown into a confrontation at DEFCOM Level 1. At the point in time when I could hear from both sides, the controversy had already caused complete broken fellowship. Each person had their thoughts and reasons but the end result was the same. The enemy had robbed each person of peace, joy and unconditional love. These types of incidents are meant for evil. They are meant to break our hearts and leave us vulnerable to anger, resentment, rebellion, pride, and a plethora of “broken arrows” that will affect our moments, days and years.

The U.S. Military uses the term Broken Arrow to describe an accidental event that involves a nuclear weapon. Broken Arrow is a marvelous, exhilarating movie with John Travolta where a pilot attempts to steal nuclear weapons in order to sell them to the enemy. Betrayal, deceit, pride and selfish motivation have overtaken a man who had once been a trusted, celebrated military aviator. Every time we give way to a “broken arrow”, a broken friendship or relationship of any kind, the walls of hurt and isolation keep us separated from the love of each other which is a manifestation of God’s love. God’s love for us is unconditional. No one can separate us from His love. But when we fail to love and become peacemakers, and instead chose to be “right”, we lose a blessing. The word says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) I have a game I play with all of my relationships. When I find myself in conflict or in a situation where I feel someone that I am in relationship with is pulling back due to a hurt or injury that I may have caused, I try to be the “peacemaker”. I hold the strong belief that amending a relationship, apologizing or working to ferret out the reason for a break in communion with one another, carries a blessing. My best friend and I share this belief and so whenever possible we try to rush in with a heartfelt, meaningful, “I am sorry!” in order to receive that special blessing of a peacemaker. I want to be the peace maker. It is so inexpensive to be the peace maker. What does it cost? It is free . . . absolutely free! It generally requires some active listening, understanding, “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes”, and humility. Listen to the other person’s pain. It is real. You can’t argue with how they feel. This is the worst mistake that you can make. . . telling someone that “they shouldn’t feel . . .because you didn’t mean . . .”, that is meaningless and leads to a dead end. Hearing the hurt, acknowledging the hurt and repenting from the hurting of another’s spirit, soul or mind is healing. It does not matter if you did not mean to hurt someone, or “if it is just their problem”, they are hurt and one should rush to “stop the bleeding” and bind up the broken heart.

The sad fact is that some people enjoy this broken state of fellowship. They enjoy being right, more than the genuine joy and blessing that comes from being a peacemaker. What they may not be aware of is that holding on to broken arrows, is like holding on to a nuclear missile that may just blow up and not just hurt them but many others.

The Rod Stewart song, Broken Arrow talks about a broken heart as a broken arrow. The Bible speaks so plainly and clearly about the dangers of a broken heart. A broken heart leads to captivity, darkness of soul and poverty of spirit. I love those lyrics of Broken Arrow when he sings;

I want to come when you call,
I’ll get to you if I have to crawl,
They can’t hold me with these iron walls,
We got mountains to climb

In every relationship, there are and will be mountains to climb. Most mountains are not meant to be climbed solo. We need each other. God gave us to each other so His love could be displayed among us. My heart cries out for protection from "broken arrows"! Lord, don’t let broken arrows get in the way of those precious ones that you have given me to climb mountains with. . . .