“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”  ~ James 5:16

“Mama, say sorry! You no talk like that!” 

That came from my three year old the other day.  Ouch.  He was right.  I was impatient and raised my voice.  How many times have I told him to apologize for the way he was speaking to me, whether in tone or volume or foul language? It’s a daily struggle, sometimes hourly.

Admitting you are wrong is not easy.  I learned early on in parenting that I was not a perfect parent.  I was going to make mistakes and I was going to mess up.  I am human.  When most of our children were little, the thought of apologizing to them was still a foreign concept to me. 

Why?  I expected them to apologize when they did something wrong.  I suppose it was the idea that I had to remain in authority and if I apologized, that somehow that would discredit me.  Over the years, I’ve learned that by apologizing to my children, I relate to them better.  They understand that I mess up too.  They have an opportunity to forgive.  This Biblical principle of apologizing and asking forgiveness is not something I did well with them at the beginning.  Over time as I grew as a Christian, I learned that by confessing to my children when I messed up, there was healing.  There was no anger or resentment built up because they knew I had done wrong and I acknowledged it. 

I know that I will continue to apologize to my children because I will continue to be human.  My hope is that, over time, I won’t have as many incidences that necessitate the apology.  That maybe I can stop myself and not mess up as much and there will be more peace in my family.  That as I mature, I can tame my tongue before my anger gets the best of me.  In the meantime, I have plenty of opportunities to practice this apologizing and forgiveness model with my children.  I hope that they will be gracious and humble.  They absolutely know that Mama is not perfect.

So this is the dance we do as parent and child. I mess up, I apologize, they forgive.  They mess up, they apologize, and I forgive. We learn from each other and walk the journey of being more like Christ everyday.