Hangup (08/07/2026)

I had a phone conversation with someone and the frustration on both ends was so intense it was almost tangible. And then I heard the click and silence. I said the person’s name three or four times. No response.

I waited five minutes. Then I texted the person with the details we’d agreed upon last week but also saying that if they needed to change it, I understood. Then I waited five more minutes, and I called the person back. I was relieved to hear “Hello.”

We talked for about ten minutes. The tension was lower and then it sort of disappeared. We discussed the plans again and agreed that he’d let me know today if he was able to help. Then he thanked me for calling back. And we said, “Goodbye.”

Misunderstandings are inevitable in relationships; they happen with family, friends, acquaintances, or even strangers. Frustrations happen when we find ourselves in those misunderstandings and are unable to resolve them easily. Most of us have had a time or two when we’d handled things one way and would love a chance to handle them differently. That’s what was on my mind between the first call and the second. We’ve all heard the old adage, “It’s not what happens to you that matters, it’s how you handle what happens to you.”

I was upset by the initial conversation and the way it was going. I was more upset by the abrupt end to it. What should I do about it?  I thought of the other person. What was he thinking? What was he feeling? I didn’t know for sure, but I felt the urge to call back and try anew in hopes that both of us would be able to step back, forgive, communicate, and go forward together.

Our Lord taught us that we are to forgive. I knew I needed to forgive. But I also realized that something I said had triggered the hangup. And I realized I might need to be forgiven, too. I believe, in our second conversation, both parties forgave the other. That’s how I felt at the end even though neither of us actually used the words, “forgive” or “sorry.”

That evening before bed, I went to the porch to ponder. I thanked the Spirit for the nudge to call back and try to resolve through conversation the problems and heal the breach in the relationship. I also pleaded with the Spirit to help our world that is so reactionary to tensions and differences. And then I said my closing prayer like I do every day:

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be understood as to understand,

to be consoled as to console,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

And the next morning I began with that same prayer only I must admit I promised to be more intentional about it as I went about my day.

As we continue our journeys in faith, buoyed by hope, let us remember all the LORD calls us to do and be along the way beginning with being ambassadors of His love and instruments of His peace.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.