They have not begun to fix the pain they created...they leave messes for everyone else.
Certainly that is true. I didn't say that they did fix the pain. However if they have a chance to apologize, that is the only thing they *can* do.
The good news is, that in spite of the pain, God can help those left behind to heal. Including you. He only waits with open arms for us to quit rejecting him. However it takes courage:
"When Jill stopped, she found she was dreadfully thirsty? She listened carefully and felt almost sure she heard the sound of running water.
Jill?looked around her very carefully. There was no sign of the Lion; so she plucked up her courage to? look for that running water.
?she came to an open glade and saw the stream, bright as glass? [A]lthough the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before, she didn't rush forward and drink. She stood still as if she had been turned into a stone, with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason: just this side of the stream lay the Lion?
"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.
"I'm dying of thirst," said Jill.
"Then drink," said the Lion.
"May I-could I-would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
"Will you promise not to-do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.
"I make no promise," said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
"Do you eat girls?" she said.
"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion.
"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.
"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.
"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."
"There is no other stream," said the Lion.
What a powerful illustration this is. We thirst for God. Christ invites us to come and be filled by Him. Yet, fearful of the risk we turn away from Him, still thirsty. GK Chesterton said it well: Faith and love are apt to be spasmodic in the best of minds. Men and women live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter and with their hand on the doorlatch they die outside.
That was from C.S. Lewis' "The Silver Chair" and a little commentary which was found here when I looked for that excerpt from the Silver Chair. (I could sit here and type it from the book but that takes too long).
A Slice of Infinity.
I know, that sounds cliche. But I know many many people that would testify to that truth, no matter how old the story is.