Matthew 6:12 — And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
A year is a long time not to speak to someone.
At first, you don’t notice how long it’s been. The days pile up quietly, like snow on a roof, until one morning the weight could cave you in. That was me staring at the silent phone in my living room and thinking about the fight that started it all.
I had been determined to be right. Not “right” in the polite, let’s-agree-to-disagree kind of way. I mean one-hundred-percent, no-question-about-it, paint-it-on-a-billboard kind of right.
I told him so.
I told him exactly what I thought about the way he treated my sister and me compared to our half-brother. The words came hot and fast. Dad’s anger rose to meet mine, and somewhere in that heat, I crossed the line from honest to hurtful.
Instead of walking it back, I planted my feet. I dug my heels in like a stubborn mule. And he did the same.
So began the longest silence of my life. Christmas came. No call. My birthday. His birthday. Father’s Day. No call. Somewhere along the way, “being right” began to feel empty. It was like carrying a trophy no one wanted.
Then one day the phone rang.
It was my dad’s best friend.
“Tammi,” he said, “you’ve got to make things right with your dad. This tension between you two, it’s killing him.”
I didn’t hesitate. “No. He’s wrong. Flat wrong.”
There was a pause. Then he said the words that split my pride in two:
“Tammi, it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong when you walk up to his coffin.”
Those words took the air right out of me. In that moment, “being right” didn’t seem nearly as important as forgiveness. I wanted to be close to my dad again.
So that same day, I drove to his house. I told him I was sorry—for my pride, my sharp words, and my stubbornness. I asked for his forgiveness, and he gave it.
That day, I learned you can win an argument and still lose what matters most. God knew what He was talking about when He taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
That’s why we need both kinds of grace. We need the kind that flows to us and the kind that flows from us.