Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16a)
A couple of days ago my husband, Wil, and I were talking about our pet peeves. His is people not being on time. Wil is a very timely person. It does not matter whether the person is keeping him from getting where he has to go or not. When I tell him someone is coming over at a certain time and they are late, it bothers him.
Wil told me that he learned to never be late from his father. Once, after his mother came to visit him in New York, he and his father decided to meet halfway to get her back home to Virginia. When Wil reached the designated place, his father had been waiting for more than an hour. Wil never forgot his father’s words: “If you leave early, you are never late.”
My husband has lived by his father’s words. We had this conversation because I was late getting back from an event and he was concerned about my safety. I was casually taking my time, stopping along the way to shop, not realize how important it was to him. I later thought about this conversation and the words of James: “Confess your trespass to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” We confessed to each other, and agreed to be respectful of each other’s irritants. It was healing. I was grateful for the understanding that comes from honest and open dialogue.
My prayer point is that we should pray for the people we can trust with our pet peeves and know that they will respond with respect and a listening heart. Not with anger, but with concern and understanding. Pray about it and see how the Lord will lead you to confess your faults to someone else.
God bless you!
