Father's Heart Blog

Let me start by explaining why I had to say Sorry today!

On a Friday I’m lucky enough to finish work at 1pm, my wife who is at Bible College in the same building and kids, one is in the same building at preschool, the other is dropped off at lunch time by her child minder are in my shop too by 12.30. So it is always a rush against time to finish up so we can get home together at 1pm.

My wife, like myself does not like waiting, especially for an extra hour, particularly when I say I’m only going to be another 5mins and it ends up being 20! Maybe you have experienced similar situations?

Well the problem with the tension that this can cause is that it builds up and makes any difficult situations to come greater!

I know that the trick is to keep short accounts and make up quickly, but all wisdom had left me today – we went shopping after work (yippy) to look for outfits for our kids to wear to our daughter’s birthday party which is tomorrow, we couldn’t find anything to suit the animal theme, and I wasn’t very amused.

So once we decided to leave the shop I zoomed off with the kids leaving my wife to slowly make her way out. I had a bit of a moan in the car and generally was a bit of an idiot!

We put the kids in to bed for a nap as they had fallen asleep, after that I laid on our bed while my wife got ready to go out again to try another shop! After another little moan as she gave me some negative news about something else. I came to my senses!!

Thank God! I realised that in many areas I was putting other things ahead of my family and all my wife had been trying to do, in all of these occasions was put ‘our’ family first.

I realised I needed to apologise about the situation that I’d just tried to rationalise trying to make out  that she was wrong and I right, I realised that she was right all along, and she was certainly right to not want to be waiting for me at work. I had badly planned my day – and I need to grow in that!

The amazing thing is that once I had said sorry, her countenance and actions towards me completely changed! She came and held my hands, laughed at my silly joke and really wanted to be around me.

A sincere apology changes the atmosphere like nothing else.

I have noticed this with my children as well, sometimes I can be too quick to lose my patience with them and can raise my voice or become too assertive with the precious little kids I am blessed to have in my care.

As soon as I realise this and kneel down next to them, stroke their hair or hold their little hand and sincerely (sometimes with tears in my eyes) say ‘Daddy is sorry, Daddy was wrong and I shouldn’t of acted that way. Can you forgive Daddy?’ The hostility and pain that they experienced by my outburst is melted away!

There is tremendous intimate power to be released when we can genuinely and humbly apologise and ask for forgiveness for our wrong towards those who we love and lead.

Who have you been short with?

You know, they know, don’t let it linger and lay unresolved, do the right thing and confess you’re wrong and make right.

Peace will come, relationships made right!