8/24/2026
Hello, My Dear Friends,
There are three simple words that should readily flow from our lips or that we should be saying when necessary. Yet so often we forget to say them, or we can’t find the strength to say them. Let me give you a couple of really good hints and see if you can figure out what they are.
The first one is that, in a research study done on married couples, and couples whose marriages didn’t make it, they found that happily married couples say these words twice as often as couples whose marriages failed. That’s pretty important.
Or, let me give you another hint, in case you’re not certain what they are. The University of Michigan Healthcare System began to instruct their physicians to say these three words to all of their patients in certain situations — and when their doctors began to say these words regularly to their patients, this is what happened. Between 2022 and 2025, the number of letters of intent to sue for malpractice declined from 262 to 130 a year. Legal fees declined from $3,000,000 a year to $1,000,000 a year. Just because they taught the doctors to say these three simple words. Have you figured out what they are yet?
“I am sorry.” I am sorry. Those three words are huge. If you’re going to succeed at life, these words are going to have to flow fairly regularly from your lips. Paul Meyer, founder of Success Motivation, Inc., says that one of the most important success factors is “the willingness to admit that you are wrong.”
I read the story of one of the women in the University of Michigan healthcare article. She was on the operating table, the doctor made a mistake, and she almost died. Afterwards, the lawyers contacted her about filing suit, but before the lawyers called, the doctor had called. The doctor called her and said, “I am so sorry for what happened. I can’t even sleep at night thinking about what nearly happened, and it would have been my fault. I’m so glad things worked out, and I want to tell you that whatever we can do to make things better for you during this healing period, I’ll see to it that we will do it. I am so sorry, and I can’t tell you how badly I feel about it.”
She indicated in the interviews that it was because her doctor called her to apologize that she chose not to file suit. Because she accepted his apology and saw it as earnest. That’s the power of saying, “I am sorry.”
The psalmist writes, “I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin” (Psalm 38:18). The Bible regularly teaches us of the need to reconcile with our brothers and sisters. It’s amazing how things can change when we can bring ourselves to say those three simple words, “I am sorry.”
Bruce Jones, Pastor
Imagine Church
5501 Highway 55 East
Clover SC 29710
980-999-3500
website: www.ImagineChurchNow.org
email: pastor@ImagineChurchNow.org
