This is a lovely post...the thoughtful and intimate blended with your lovely use of language. It occurs to me to say this:
Though a good deal of repentance seems to involve forms of atonement, apology, regret, and an honest inventory of what in the 12 step program is called "defects of character, something perhaps easily overlooked is repenting for failures adequately to express love and appreciation for people in our lives. At 81, my ongoing resolution is to leave nothing of that sort unsaid in my life, which does not mean over-doing it, for the expression of love requires the same tact as the expression of regret and the desire to make amends. But I want to pass through the wilderness with an opening heart so that the crossing can be as graceful and grateful as possible.
So grateful for these reflections that are leading us to find deeper meaning in the texts as we learn to read “between the lines,” Below the Bible Belt!
This is a lovely post...the thoughtful and intimate blended with your lovely use of language. It occurs to me to say this:
Though a good deal of repentance seems to involve forms of atonement, apology, regret, and an honest inventory of what in the 12 step program is called "defects of character, something perhaps easily overlooked is repenting for failures adequately to express love and appreciation for people in our lives. At 81, my ongoing resolution is to leave nothing of that sort unsaid in my life, which does not mean over-doing it, for the expression of love requires the same tact as the expression of regret and the desire to make amends. But I want to pass through the wilderness with an opening heart so that the crossing can be as graceful and grateful as possible.
So grateful for these reflections that are leading us to find deeper meaning in the texts as we learn to read “between the lines,” Below the Bible Belt!