Reconciliation is a hard work, but it seems to me the only work worth spending energy towards. In the depths of my heart there is always a desire for relationships to return to the time before the pain, betrayal, and mistrust, that inevitably comes from miscommunication (in the least) or malice (at most).
And so we work, towards the rebuilding of trust, the healing of pain, and the forgiveness of betrayal. Here’s the thing about reconciliation. Everything has to come to the light first – that’s confession. Everyone involved has to be pained by the situation, so much so that they want nothing to do with it ever again (and would rather something better) – that’s repentance. Then everything has to be covered over, and a clean slate provided for – that’s forgiveness.
Then we can begin again, renewed, reestablished, and reconciled.