2/15 Friday after Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-14

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
 Rend your heart
    and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
    and he relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and relent
    and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
    for the Lord your God.
An Offering from Mercedes Osella

Repenting for offenses to our friends, family, or God involves more than just saying "I'm sorry".   First of all, God calls us to look inward, to examine why we hurt those we do, or why we act thoughtlessly.  It is important to find dedicated time to think.  Sitting in stillness allows to me to consider situations where I find that I've made mistakes. Working in my yard and in contact with nature also brings me to this place of calm, where my mind is free to reflect.  Once I have found a time to consider poor choices that I've made, I plan for how to make amends.  Amends may involve apologizing, fixing a wrong, or going out of my way to help someone else in an effort to bring a positive out of something negative.  The final step, as Joel points out, is to "rend your heart, not your garments"  To me, this refers to changing the part of my personality that led to the hurt I caused someone else, not just going through the motions of apologizing.

It's important to learn from mistakes so that we don't repeat them over and over again.   This involves something most of us find incredibly difficult and often scary:  self-examination.  What takes the edge off of this process, though, is the knowledge that God helps us come to a positive place. He has blessed us with the tools we need to learn from our mistakes, and this is a sign of His love.  We are called to use the gift of metacognition.  In so doing,we learn from our mistakes and become better people.  I consider this gift of self-improvment the blessings to which Joel refers. 

Prayer:

God, I accept that I have made mistakes and I take full responsibility for them.  Allow me to understand and learn from my mistakes, and show me how I can repair or lessen the damage made by my mistakes.  Your compassion and forgiveness are blessings which I appreciate every day of my life.  Amen.