Two Simple Words With Deep Impact

I promised myself that I would post, each day until his birthday, something about loving or giving, to remind myself of the reason for the season.

Tonight I have been thinking about ways to demonstrate my Christian love to those around me all the time. So often I lose patience because of fatigue or daily burdens or simply because life gets in the way. At those times, I might come across as a bit cranky. I don't mean to do that.

I think one way to show my Christian love is to say "I'm sorry" immediately. Those words are so much easier to say when they are said quickly and at the moment they need to be said. When I wait, whether it's an hour or a day or several days, then the event becomes memorable instead of forgettable.

I don't need to give long explanations. Those do not help. They sometimes make the matter worse. I have found that just saying something like "I'm sorry if I seemed a bit cranky. I think I need to slow down," or, "I'm sorry if I upset you. I didn't mean to do that." Often, that's all that needs to be said. My problem is that sometimes I forget how easy it is to say.

Tonight, the reason I posted this is because of an incident when I had the sense to say those words at the moment they needed to be said. The situation was over with that quickly, with just those words. When it doesn't matter a lot who is right or wrong, those simple words make a world of difference and they show our love for one another.

Lord Jesus, please help me to always sense when those words will help me show my love for others. Help me, please, to avoid the trap of thinking my opinion and my feelings are the only ones which matter.