How to Apologize

We hear a lot about the virtues of forgiving others.  We’ve had it ingrained in our brains:  “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  But how about the other side of that issue.  Namely, how do I ASK for forgiveness?  I think a lot of marriage wounds could be healed much more effectively if we knew how to apologize.  Every married couple and every close relationship will encounter conflicts that need to be reconciled.   I addressed this topic a couple of weeks ago in a Dallas Theological Seminary chapel talk in which  I offered this four step approach to making your apologies complete.  When you have created an offense,

1.  own it,

2. regret it,

3. understand the impact of it, and

4. ask for forgiveness for it.

Click here to listen to the 30-minute talk.   I’d be interested in your additional thoughts.

I appreciated reading Mike Paul’s blog post on The Art of Apologizing because he goes into a bit more detail that I did and it’s helpful.  You can see it by clicking on the dog picture which came from his blog.