Grandpa let me try my hand at carpentry, giving me a hammer, nails and scraps of lumber. But my nails never slipped easily into the wood the way Grandpa's seemed to do. My nails hesitated, bending under the misplaced blows of my inexpert hammering.
Frustrated, I would wrench the bent nails out and try again. It was years before I could drive a nail in straight.. and even now, I still miss sometimes.
A few days ago, my husband Tim, and I got into an argument that was mostly my fault. I knew I needed to apologize, but it took me several hours of deliberating before I could utter the simple words, "I'm sorry."
"Thanks," Tim said. "I know that was hard for you."
Yeah it was hard! Hard like learning a new skill kinda hard. Like learning how to hammer in a straight nail and NOT getting frustrated at failed attempts for sweet satisfaction!... But maybe with a little practice, apologies would become easier too, like hammering did. I think its worth a try anyway!
So...I've been practicing, driving words of reconciliation carefully into arguments and disagreements. Now the words "I'm sorry" come more easily, slip more neatly into place, mending what my anger or careless words have broken.
Pondering these things has helped me to realize how important it is to practice skills of love in the lives of those around me. Its hard to do when I'm angry, but worth it in the end.
"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful, later...it produces a harvest of righteousness..." Hebrews 12:11
No comments:
Post a Comment