Say you're sorry

Am I the only one?

It seems that more and more - my mouth is getting ahead of my brain and the words that come tumbling out are not so nice.

Well, maybe not horrible - but smart - well you get it.

And I keep having to go back to the hearer and apologize for my rude lack of good manners.

It's not that I don't know better.  I was taught those tests - "is it true, is it kind, is it necessary?" And hopefully I taught that principle to my children.

That - and to "say you're sorry".

But somehow the older I get, the more times I am being called out (from within my spirit) to say I'm sorry.  The old fashioned way to say this would be that I have been convicted - or to put some other words around it - become aware that I have done something that was wrong, as we say in the confession - " the things that I have done...".

And USUALLY it's because I SAID something unnecessary or unkind. 

In our Lenten series we are focusing on Justice and Mercy.

If those people that I've had to apologize to in recent days were being just they might not forgive me; however, in most cases I've been viewed mercifully and the person I've been rude or unkind to has been quick to accept my apology.

You will note that I said most cases.*

I actually think that if I would practice "thinking before I speak" I might not have to say I'm sorry quite as often.

*Note to self:  sometimes no matter what you do, what you say, how many times you reach out and ask for forgiveness, the person you have hurt just can't ...accept.  Take advice from the words of the English poet, Alexander Pope -

"To err is human; to forgive divine" which has been expanded by English scholars to mean that while anyone can make a mistake, we should do what God does...show mercy and forgive.

Or as my mother always taught us "It's not how others ACT, it's how we REACT".  I cannot control the heart of the person I hurt.  All I can say is that

I'm sorry!