It is not that easy to do.

It is one of those things that we are all told we should be able to do, but it is one of the hardest things there is to do. When you make a mistake, we are told to step up and acknowledge it and apologize. When we are not able to do a job, we need to speak up so that those in charge can get someone who can do the job. When we hurt a person's feelings we are encourage to ask forgiveness. That social transaction is often urged, frequently spoken about, and often described as a straight forward doable thing.

But it has to be one of the hardest things that people are asked to do. There is a recent example of a person in a leadership role who has not fulfilled her duties for the first half of this year. The leader of the group has been trying for a month to get with her to talk about the failures and to encourage her to step aside. The hope was a resignation so that the group could get on with its business. The conversation has not taken place and the person has refused to communicate with the group leader. Phone calls, emails, facebook messages have all failed to get the person to talk to the group leader. There is no salary, no job on the line, there is only the difficulty for the person to admit the failure to perform. But apparently she just can not do it.

The small struggle of that person reminds me of why the whole act of confession, repentance and new direction so often talked about within the Christian community, frequently talked about as being so simple, so easy, so quick is really such a major, difficult and radical thing. To admit failure, to confess it, to change and act differently, is an incredible act of self-sacrifice and self-humbling. We ought to celebrate and applaud that kind of admission, acceptance and confess a lot more because it is a lot more difficult to do.