‘I should have apologised’.

Whilst pootling through Yarcombe’s lanes on Jubilee Sunday I had to brake firmly as a car came towards me. Stopping about four feet apart it was obvious that the other driver was quite shaken by this, saying: “You nearly hit me.”

Now four feet is, to me, quite a margin for error and didn’t worry me, so I shrugged it off – but, looking back, I realise that the other chap was concerned and I should have apologised. I am sorry for causing him anxiety.

Seeing something from someone else’s point of view is the first step to making real the command Jesus gave us to love one another. Jesus didn’t say ‘it would be nice if you were nice’ but commanded us to put love into action, in word and deed, thinking not just of ourselves but of others and doing good to them, and taking their concerns into account.