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I am on a journey to honestly look at myself in the mirror. A year or two ago I was done looking at myself in the mirror or at least the wounds I had in my heart and soul. It felt like I had dug up enough crap to last me a life time and I did not think I really needed to go any deeper. I am here to tell you, I was wrong. To deny the Lord access to do whatever digging he needs to do in my life prevents me from loving myself and others deeper. It keeps me from truly accessing the freedom Jesus has already given to me.
Over the last couple of months I have read Ken Blanchard’s books. The One Minute Manager, Leadership and the One Minute Manager. Hungry for more of anything Ken and his company have to teach me I went to my public library’s online catalog. Minnesota has a fabulous statewide system and I looked to see if they had anymore of his books. Sure enough and the first one I found was The One Minute Apology. Awesome or not so much. I honestly rolled my eyes and said really Lord, we have to go there. I got a sick feeling in my stomach, the kind where I know the Lord is about to reveal more sinful truths in my life and then I would have to face up and go apologize to those I had hurt and offended. The odd thing is the pain of confronting them has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the shame, embarrassment and horror of knowing I hurt someone in my life. I hate hurting those around me, I hate knowing I have left them with a wound. The world is hurtful enough without my mouth and actions running rampant. Yet, I’m human, I loose my patience and have bad days like everyone else.
Knowing the Lord would not bring it to my attention if he didn’t think I was ready for it, I jumped right on in. The thing I love the most about Ken Blanchard’s books is the ability to sit down, read them within hours, be able to digest everything I just read and then I am able to confidently implement them. This was as true with the One Minute Apology as it was with the other two books i have read.
When is an apology needed? When you have made a mistake on purpose or by accident and damage to a relationship has been done. One of the reasons people do not admit when they are wrong is because there is a truth in ones life they are not willing to confront and face. Instead we tend to ignore the red lights that are flashing when we see broken relationships in our life. Our pride prevents us from seeing damaging and consistent hurtful patterns.
The reasons we often do not seek an apology or forgiveness is because embarrassment and shame prevents us from admitting when we are wrong. I don’t know about you, but I am ready to be set free. I am ready to see the ways I am not being truthful to myself. I want to know the truth, no matter how painful it is to see and be set free. Areas of truth will reveal the ways I need to change and allow me to work to prevent apologies in the first place. My integrity of being truthful, loving and the high value I put on relationships in both my personal and professional life is worth getting out of my comfort zone. Will you join me in learning how to give a One Minute Apology.
