Scripture: Ephesians 4:31-32
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Thought for the Day: “I’m sorry!” Those words had to come from my mouth on more than one occasion at the Board Meeting Sunday evening. I misstated something, and then later, I was a little snippy with someone. I needed to say, “I’m sorry!” And I’m glad I did. Though let me put things in context. When I got home from the Regional Men’s Retreat, I took a quick shower and immediately dashed to the church for the Board Meeting. I was exhausted, but along the way, traffic came to a complete stop. Within a minute, there were all kinds of police and other first responders. It was an accident, and when I was finally able to get around it, what I saw shook me up. When I got to the Board Meeting, I was really frazzled, mostly by what I had witnessed at the accident scene. It is not an excuse, and we should always be cautious about excusing bad behavior, but it also reminded me that when someone is snippy with me or outright rude, maybe there is something else at play. Maybe something happened only a few minutes earlier that is shading how this person is acting or speaking. Again, it is not an excuse. And yes, an apology should be there. But at times, we probably don’t recognize how an experience has impacted our mindset. When we have wronged someone, let us be quick to say, “I’m sorry!” But when someone has wronged us, let us be gracious in giving the benefit of the doubt.
Prayer: As you are so generous with your grace, My God and My Friend, please teach me to be generous with my apologies… and then stretch me as I extend forgiveness even when someone else doesn’t realize they’ve offended me. Amen.
TOMORROW NIGHT
Final Session:
