Things unseen…

Now and then a conversation or a circumstance reminds me that I can’t see everything.  Whether physical or metaphorical, my world is sometimes shrouded in a thick fog, a mist that obscures details from view.  My perspective can be limited.

Once more I find myself needing to clarify, not what I have seen so much as what I have said.  I need to apologize.  I need to try to make amends.

Sometimes I speak from a place of irritation, even of anger, saying hurtful words that I don’t really mean and quickly wish I could take back.  Apologies for such moments usually come fast, and without too much difficulty.  A simple declaration…“I’m sorry I said that.  I was mad. I didn’t mean it and I hope you can forgive me.”

It’s a lot harder when I realize that I have inadvertently hurt someone by speaking from a place of ignorance or a lack of understanding.  When I have spewed opinions based on judgment or dogma without taking into account that those opinions affect real-life, concrete people…people I love and value and appreciate, regardless of whether I understand their viewpoints, orientations, challenges, spiritual upbringing or lack thereof…

Before I spew, I need to clear the fog and educate myself about the lives and struggles of the people I profess to love.  I know what it is like to have some well-meaning but oh-so-judgy “loved one” preach at me about how wrong I am in some area of my life that should be easy to fix…an area about which they possess no understanding.  Lord, help me see past the fog, through the mist of the lives that touch mine.  Help me to see, and to say, with clarity, only what is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary and kind.  #think