I live with tons of regret and I've come to realize that the more regret I have and the more I allow it to break my heart, there are some people who are perfectly willing to allow me to suffer that regret without any means of attempting to fix it.
I accept a lot of things about myself. I know I am selfish, I am VERY opinionated and not afraid to let it fly (which causes me no small amount of that word REGRET.) I am stubborn, willful, and at times down right mean spirited. Sometimes the realization of those points occurs to me while I am spewing that thing called OPINION. I am not always a nice person....I'd like to be....I try to be, but I fail more often than not. On the flip side of the tarnished penny of "ME", is the fact I love too easily and expect that because I love someone - warts and all, they will return that favor. I also come to a point of forgiveness pretty quickly and once I do I start trying to make amends.
I find it interesting that it takes more than just you to wreck a relationship, but one often finds themselves trying to "fix" what is broken all by themselves.
When you ask for forgiveness for your part in a strained relationship and you are met with a bullet list of all the things you did to cause the rift with no acceptance on the part of the other individual regarding their contributing role, what do you do? The last thing that I want to do is get caught up in a circular argument when it is apparent that the other person sees nothing wrong in what they have said or done. Instead, they only want to paint themselves as the victim in the situation which almost leads you to ask "what will it take for you to get over this, feel better about this or move on?"
And when that conversation just stops with no conclusion....then what?
I fully think that if someone apologizes to you....you owe them either the acceptance of that apology or you need to simply say "I don't accept your apology." To leave someone hanging without knowing if they should continue to try to mend a fence or simply dust off their shoes and move on is pretty dehumanizing. And....I am also finding that it is almost impossible for someone to just open up enough to "own" their part of a situation. Is it really that painful to admit that yes, you might have played a role in the disagreement as well?
I guess I am greatly blessed and infinitely lucky that I am a firm believer in the forgiveness of God because I know he sees my heart all the way through the layers of black and grey and finds the small little red beating part and gives me the benefit of the doubt. Over the course of the past 6 or 7 years, I have inflicted on myself much to atone for and I have genuinely tried to begin that process only to find people who will not accept it, reject it or own any degree of it.
I'm pretty sure my "Apology Tour" has come to a close. I've owned my behavior, regretted my words and actions, acknowledged the need for healing and attempted to accomplish it. I've put my balls into the other courts and it remains with the other players to decide if they want to play them or let them lay there. But, I will continue to be #sorry.
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