47 lines
1.1 KiB
Plaintext
47 lines
1.1 KiB
Plaintext
## 51:17
|
|
%% 4
|
|
> A Broken And Contrite Heart
|
|
>> The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
|
|
|
|
Occasion: After hurting someone deeply
|
|
|
|
Lord, their face stays with me.
|
|
The look after my words landed.
|
|
The long pause.
|
|
The way the air changed.
|
|
I cannot unsay it.
|
|
|
|
Even now, I can feel myself reaching
|
|
for an explanation,
|
|
some reason my words were excusable,
|
|
some way to make the harm seem smaller.
|
|
But it was not small to them.
|
|
You know what it cost them to hear it.
|
|
|
|
Hold me still before that wound.
|
|
Don't let me hurry past it
|
|
because looking is hard.
|
|
|
|
Part of me wants quick repair.
|
|
Part of me wants them to ease my guilt.
|
|
Part of me wants to be comforted first.
|
|
And part of me is afraid
|
|
that my apology will not be enough,
|
|
that forgiveness may not come quickly,
|
|
that what I broke may take long to mend.
|
|
|
|
Break my selfishness down.
|
|
Give me courage to speak plainly,
|
|
without defending myself
|
|
or asking them to carry my shame.
|
|
Make room in me for patience,
|
|
for listening,
|
|
for the slow work of making right what I can.
|
|
|
|
Their face stays with me.
|
|
Let it keep me honest before You,
|
|
and tender toward the hurt
|
|
I cannot undo.
|
|
|
|
Amen.
|