Being a child of the late 70's and 80's ... There are two things we all knew: "The Fonz" and the killer band called "Chicago". C'mon people, am I talkin' or what?
To those 'less priveleged', there was a late 70's TV sitcom called "Happy Days." (In our area, it aired on Tuesday nights ... just before Laverne & Shirley ... in case you were wondering.) One of the stars of the "Happy Days" show was "The Fonz." There was a later spin-off called "Cha-Chee Loves Joannie" which was flat out stupid. Anyway, back to the original show.
One of my favorite episodes was when the Fonz was wrong and Potsie (a red-haired character in the show) was right and the Fonz had to apologize. If you know anything about the Fonz, the Fonz is never wrong, the Fonz doesn't ever say, "I was wrong" or "I'm sorry." And so this episode was funny watching the Fonz try to even say those things to the worst person imaginable - Potsie! He literally could not get the words out. He couldn't form them.
Then the 80's came. One of the greatest bands (besides Journey, the Cars, Rush and 38 Special) was a band called CHICAGO. They are all old now, but back in the day, they recored this one tune called "Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry" (kick back and check out the big hair in this video)
What these two have in common is, there is a little bit of that song and a little bit of the Fonz inside us. It can be so hard to say, "I was wrong," "I'm sorry," or "Please forgive me." These are all good phrases to practice and be ready to speak as soon as they are needed.
This week at Victory, we are going to unpack this whole idea of "How Do I Say I'm Sorry?" Bottom line is, our ignorance (or lack of self-awareness) gets in the way of knowing when we are in the wrong. Then, our pride gets in the way of offering sincere apologies when we know we are wrong.
Listen:
- When you are wrong, admit it... quickly.
- When you are wrong, apologize... sincerely.
- When you have hurt someone, own up to it and make it right ... immediately and sincerely.
This is just an healthy thing to do.
Here’s a little project for you to do. Do an all-out searching of your heart. Try to remember the people you have hurt and to whom you never apologized and said, "I’m sorry," "Please forgive me." Make your list of people, and start to offer some sincere apologies.
But keep this in mind, not EVERY wrong deserves an apology. Don't re-open old wounds if in doing so, you damage the other person more than help them with your apology. We’ll talk more about this, this week at Victory.
After you apologize, email me ( cseaburg@victorychurch.ws ) and tell me how it went.
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