How we Apologize in our Home...

I live with a bunch of sinners. *gasp*

Seriously I do! A whole house full. Including Brandon and I.

And oh boy do we have lots of opportunities to learn how to apologize!

I apologize to my children... often. It keeps me humble.

In our house, we apologize by saying what we did wrong. We confess it *all*. We don't cherry pick a the easiest thing to apologize for.

We say how truly sorry we are.

We avoid the word BUT.

For example: I'm truly sorry I yelled at you, but you are annoying!

Yeah.. that doesn't fly.

"But" has a way of undoing everything in front of it.

Wanna see?

"I'm so sorry that I didn't discuss this with you when I found out. But you always get short with me when I do discuss this topic with you."

See that shift of blame?

Here's another thing. We don't blame the Enemy.

"I'm sorry you were hurt, Satan caused it. "

Here at the Bee House, we believe in Free Will. Satan may have tempted you, but YOU chose your path or action.

No matter how poorly one apologizes, forgiveness is your responsibility. It doesn't mean that you weren't wronged. It doesn't mean that they apologized the right way. Maybe the person isn't even repentant. But YOUR burden is forgiving. Some times it take time. Sometimes it takes a long, long time. But leave it at the foot of the Cross over and over as many times as you need to. One day you'll realize it stayed there.

A Humble Sinner,

Stephanie

PS: For those that worry, nothing in my home sparked this. Brandon and I are fine and our children are happy little clams. Julianne and Lainey have Christmas programs tomorrow. Something came up among a group of friends and I started thinking about whether or not I'm teaching my children how to apologize correctly. Just thought I'd share. ;)