"I'm sorry for the things I do that you don't like"

We recently traveled up to Vancouver, Washington to visit some friends of ours.  They have known me since I was about 14 years old (I'm considerably older than that now).  They are wonderful people - kind, loving, generous, friendly, joyful.  I have always loved spending time with them. 

In recent years, we have not been able to spend much time with them.  His work kept him from traveling to places they didn't want him to go and she always traveled with him.  In our previous jobs, we were able to see them about twice a year.  When we left those jobs in 2006 and bought a home, we stopped traveling as much. Then with the birth of our son, we didn't try long trips at all for quite some time.

But in our recent trip, one day he seemed tense.  At one point during the day, she mentioned to me that sometimes he becomes tense if things weren't going the way he had thought they would.  I can relate. 

I have struggled with that for quite some time.  If I had planned things (or even if I expected things to go a certain way without really planning) and it didn't go how I wanted, I would get bent out of shape.  I suppose I am still that way to some degree. 

But when she had the opportunity to be alone with him, she said to him, "I'm sorry for the things I do that you don't like".  What an example of humility.  She didn't even really know what she had done but she apologized for it anyway. 

I want to be like that.  I struggle to be like that because it does not come naturally to me.  I struggle with pride, wanting to be right even when it goes against what I know of God and His word "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."  Proverbs 16:18 

Thud!  That would be me, pridefully falling because I can't humble myself. 

My prayer is that the next time I am in a similar situation, I will think of her example and be the first to apologize or forgive.  She told me later, he got tears in his eyes and said the same thing back to her. When my family and I arrived at the car, the tension had vanished.

What a beautiful gift she gave to him....and to all of us by example.

In His Grace...