Every day
brings with it new reasons to be offended. Everyone has their own baggage that
they bring into their interactions with others.
Someone cuts you off in traffic, says something rude, etc. I always say, you never know what a person
was experiencing prior to their encounter with you.
Once my
husband and I went to a restaurant, and the waitress was particularly rude in
seating us. Just her overall demeanor was extraordinarily, well, nasty. My husband commented quietly about her
behavior, and I on the other hand chose to “kill her with kindness.” I was
extremely pleasant to her despite her treatment of us. Upon her return to the table, she stated that
another server would be handling our table, and that she needed to leave
because her mother had just died. I was
in shock, we gave our sympathies, prayed with her and she left. Her absence left the strongest impression on
me, and reinforced my own need to be mindful of the people I encounter every day. To remember that everyone is walking wounded
in their own way, and more importantly, that it is not all about me/us.
How many
opportunities have you had to be offended already today? Did you take it
personally? Did you take a step back and ask yourself, maybe this person is
going through their own stuff?
Make these
questions a daily ritual in your interaction with others before taking offense,
before, retaliating, breathe, and remember, it is not all about us. Once we truly recognize this idea and take it
into our spirit, we heal the hearts of others, and God’s grace heals our hearts
as well.
