Understanding and Asking Forgiveness

As children, we're never fully aware of the pressures the adults in our lives are facing. This is as it should be - our homes should be a safe haven, a place of trust, love and communion. The adults may not always act or react "just so", but often work to shield their kids and do their best to improve on what their parents did.

As a child, it is rare to consider who your parents were "before."


As parents, you begin to grasp and understand the journeys your parents took, to learn of the events that molded and shaped the paths of both your lives. And if you're smart, you acknowledge the part you played in one another's difficulties.

At the beginning of this Great Lent, I am following our church tradition.

To those I have wronged:

Forgive me, Brothers and Sisters, for any way in which I have sinned against you in this year past.

To those adults from my childhood who I could not have understood, but do now: I get it now. And I'm sorry I sometimes made life harder. Thank you for being there, and shielding me.