January 9, 2011

Paddling in Shallow Waters: The Invigorating Power of Forgiveness

A few weeks ago as I contemplated my New Year’s resolutions, I had an idea: I would make a list of twelve people with whom I have less-than-satisfying relationships. You know, something said or done along the way created hard feelings (on my part or theirs, or both). How would it be, I wondered, if invited each of these people to spend ten minutes — TEN, mind you — saying anything that they wanted to say to me. I would not comment, retaliate, or defend myself in any way. At the end of that ten minutes, I would offer a simple, heart-felt apology and thank […]
December 30, 2010

A Blessing for Not-So-Holy Families

It was like scratching an itch that had been building up for years. Then, the day before Christmas, the proverbial straw landed. Finally, this ol’ camel scratched in the form of a carefully worded e-mail. Ahhhh . . . camel crap. We’ve been shoveling it for days now, with no end in sight. Someday I’ll get around to sharing details, but for now I’ll summarize it this way: Nothing, not even righteous indignation, feels good enough to justify hurting someone you REALLY love. And sometimes even the most justified comeback can have consequences you never intended. In this case, the easy “Sorry” won’t work. You […]