Saying I’m Sorry

A stiff apology is a second insult. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.  G.K. Chesterton

You're not quite "Army" yet, miss... or you'd know never to apologize... it's a sign of weakness.  John Wayne in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Do you have a hard time saying you’re sorry to someone you have hurt?  I think this is probably one of the hardest things in life to do and many times it is the last thing some of us will ever do.

Too many times I think we are like the 1949 movie with John Wayne where he was a Captain in the Army and the female character had apologized.  I think there are times just as in this movie, when we think it is a weakness of character to say we’re sorry to someone.  How many hearts have been broken and wounds never healed because of what John Wayne in the movie called a weakness? 

If we learn that saying you are sorry is a weakness, then we will never say it.  One of the things that saying you’re sorry does is that it humbles us.  It takes us down to the level of the other person’s pain.  If we are to show others that we are sorry for something we did and be truly repentant, then we will need to feel their pain too. It means we have to go through the uncomfortable process of humbling ourselves to another person.

 

I found it interesting that in this same movie with John Wayne a young soldier in the Army asked the Captain, “Were you ever scared, “Captain” Tyree? and John Wayne responded with “Yes, sir.  Up to and includin’ now.”

 

I believe that if we aren’t scared to offer an apology to another human being, then our heart is probably not in the right place to offer it with sincerity and true remorse.  If you think about it, when we are scared of the outcome because of something we have done to hurt another person, it means that the other person matters to us and that is the most important time to say we are sorry.

  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am sorry.  Sorry for the times I have hurt You with my disobedience.  Sorry for the times I forgot about You and ignored You.  I am sorry for the times I thought I knew what was best for me when only You can know that.  I am sorry for the times I didn’t stand up for You with others and didn’t share my faith and the promise of eternal life with You to lost souls.  I have a lot to be sorry for Father, but I want to be different.  Humbling myself and saying I am sorry shows strength of character not weakness.  Thank You for humbling me.

Scripture: This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?  Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord.

“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.  Isaiah 66:1-2

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Ephesians 4:29-32