Learning to Say I’m Sorry

This post is from the Church Whisperer.

Remember when your little brother did something really mean and hateful to you or to your stuff and you told on him? And remember how your mom grabbed him by the ear and dragged him over to you and literally forced him to say the words “I’m sorry” under threat of some unspeakably horrible punishment? Do you remember how you felt after that happened? WAIT! …o.k., you felt like you got your revenge and you enjoyed seeing him nearly get his entire ear ripped off the side of his head…but what about the apology? Did it make you feel reconciled to him? Of course it didn’t. Because that is about as poor as apologies get in terms of actually bringing any healing to a situation. But what if you could actually learn to express regret in a way that adds value to a relationship? After all, feeling genuine regret in your heart is one thing, but learning to express it in a way which heals a broken relationship is another thing altogether. If there were some practical things to learn, some skills to perfect in terms of communication, some things that would help you make a positive difference in your relationships, would it be worth your while to learn them?...Read More.