Apologize

Every once in a while, something warrants an apology. If you are like me, the smallest of infractions has you spewing out an “I’m sorry.” (And not in an ingenuine way). I believe it is incredibly important to say you’re sorry and acknowledge a wrong doing or misstep. And as part of my quest to be a Proverbs 31 wife, I find myself needing to say it a little more often.

Yesterday was a prime example of that. I was being a little moody and to be 100% authentic, I was kind of nitpicky and short fused with Josh before he left for work and again when he came home for lunch.

After he went back to finish off his day at work, I did a little online work and ended up on Pinterest (oops). As my “pinning” tends to go, I ended up looking at quotes and marriage articles, one which ended up reminding me of my Biblical call as a wife.

Almost instantly, vivid recall of the not so nice encounters I had with Josh came flooding into my head and I realized that my “attitude” was so not deserved. And since I am big on apologies, I really felt the need to make it right.

Because he was at work, I knew I would either have to wait for him to come home so I could apologize, or text him.

Well, texting doesn’t cut it for me (too impersonal) but I really didn’t want him to dread coming home to a cranky wife. So I opted to send him an email, (we tend to write letters to each other as sweet form of communication from time to time, I just modernized it for my need of instant delivery).

I wrote my email as if I was writing him a letter and detailed each incident I remembered being a less than loving wife and apologized.

Apologizing for me is so important because the hardest part is admitting when you messed up and owning it. No one is perfect, but ignoring a wrong doesn’t make for healthy relationships. Opening up yourself to admit a mistake makes a big difference. (And of course, follow it up with changed behavior).

Shortly after I hit send on my email, I received a reply. In typical Josh fashion, he made light of the situation by sending me a hilarious response. Because he was at work he emailed me as if he were addressing a client, totally made me laugh. Here is one of the lines from his response: “I look forward to future dealings in our marriage in perpetuity.” Isn’t he funny!

And he of course accepted my apologies.

So I guess, the moral of the story here is don’t ever be too big to admit you were wrong. Humbling yourself and asking for forgiveness is an important part of relationships. And I think that it’s important even for the small stuff.

Also, here is the article I was reading when I had my epiphany: http://www.kellycoxathome.com/75-ways-respect-husband/