Listen

When I kept quiet, my bones wore out; I was groaning all day long—every day, every night!—because your hand was heavy upon me. My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought.

So I admitted my sin to you; I didn’t conceal my guilt. “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord, ” is what I said. Then you removed the guilt of my sin.

Psalm 32:3-5

Think

Have you ever felt like it was too late to make something right? Too late to have that conversation, say you’re sorry, or offer forgiveness? Sometimes it feels easier to avoid the awkward thing, so it hangs over our heads like a rotten tree branch, waiting to fall.

“When I kept quiet, my bones wore out,” writes the psalmist. We know this feeling. Keeping quiet from God, and from others, because it’s overwhelming to speak the truth. We fear we might drown in it.

It’s true that sometimes people won’t understand. They might be defensive. They might not forgive, or apologize, even when you pray. Reconciliation at the human level is rare and hard-won.

But don’t give up! There are some relationships worth working on and trying to strengthen. Pray for God’s guidance to show you which ones, and how to reconcile. And the good news is this, at least when it comes to you and God: reconciliation is always possible!

Cari Pattison

Question to Ponder:

What’s the hardest thing about attempting reconciliation?

Pray

Patient God, with you we’re told that all things are possible. But that doesn’t mean you move in the ways we want or expect. Show me who in my life I might reach out to with hope. Show me how to speak and listen, in a way that heals. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Go

May you go into this day knowing you are held up and carried forth.

May you feel the truest most beautiful things in you brought to life.

And may all the disconnects that really matter, be rejoined and made new.