Friendship and Confession...

Confession isn’t popular. People not only don’t like to do it, they don’t even really like to think about it or talk about it. One way I know this because I don’t like to do it or to think about it or talk about it (not to mention that the blog I previously wrote on confession is incredibly unpopular statistically, but I digress…)

Yesterday, a friend asked what my focus for this third week of lent was and I told her “friends or more generally focusing on my relationships with those the people I come in contact with.”Her response was something to the extent of asking what that will look like and asking “so will you be confessing to friends this week?” I was kind of taken back by the question… I hadn’t planned on it. I didn’t want to confess to friends. I think as I had been thinking about this week I had thought mostly about praying for people I know and for the strangers I pass by, about being open to God leading me to talk to someone I normally wouldn’t talk to or to listen to a friend who needs a listening ear. I had thought about focusing on being a good friend to my friends and to those I wouldn’t normally consider my friends. But, I had forgotten that being a good friend requires openness and honesty and being open and honest requires confession. And I had forgotten the other focus of Lent that God kept bringing up in my research… repairing brokenness.

Is there brokenness in my relationships with others (whether they are family members, friends, acquaintances, etc) that God wants me to confess and mend?

Lord, look for truth deep within my relationships and show me where I might need to confess to them and to you and repent and change the way I relate to others. In Jesus name. Amen.

Rejoicing in the journey - Beth Stedman