Tuesday, I had a luncheon meeting with a group of Women who have a mission to connect, lead, and support women in the workplace to reach their God-given potential, with their faith as the foundation. As I was leaving this event at a restaurant in Southlake, there were two sets of double glass doors at the exit. There happened to be a man at both of these, one at the inner exit and one at the final exit.
I was chatting with one of the ladies as we were walking down the stairs to exit these two sets of double doors, answering a few of her questions and we were in a deep conversation about life, events and things going on.
When I walked by the first guy I looked at him directly in the eyes and said Thank YOU. He didn't respond. As I went through the second set of doors, I thought I nodded to this guy and said Thank YOU turning to answer my friends question as she was behind me as we continued walking out. As we got outside we stopped at the curb to finish our conversation and give each other hugs.
And it was then we heard a voice say: "You are Welcome." It was sarcastic and in a tone that ripped at my heart. I looked at my friend and she looked at me and back at the door as it closed and said, "Did we not Thank him?". I shook my head in bewilderment and said "I thought we did, or I thought I had acknowledged him, but maybe I just meant to?"
As I stood there trying to piece together what just happened I wasn't sure what I should do. Do I walk back in and say, "Excuse me sir, I didn't mean to offend you, I apologize!" Or do I just let it go and realize I was evidently not clear enough in my Thank YOU since he didn't receive it. But if I did walk back inside, would he say "It's no big deal?" Or would he make some ugly statement about how us woman are not thankful for men in our lives, or that we are too independent, or some other statement to add more hurt to the already fragile situation?
As I stood there, trying to figure out what I should do, and how to let this comment that pricked my heart deeply be just a drop of water rolling off a ducks back, I prayed that the Lord would help him to see it was not intentional by me (or my friend) to not acknowledge his kind gesture, whatever I did or didn't do. That he would understand that we were knee deep in conversation, and it hadn't been our intention to not thank him as I knew I had thanked the first guy and thought I had nodded and said Thank YOU to him too. I asked the Lord to heal his hurt that was affecting a stranger he didn't even know. I asked God to help me be more attentive in these situations to express it and not just feel it and make sure that I am not so caught up in the moment that I cause hurt in someone's life.
As I finished my conversation with my friend, she reminded me that we had just discussed that you can't let someone else's response to what you do or say ruin your day. Let it go. Their response is on them, not on you.
Sometimes this is hard in a world that seeks to blame everyone else for whatever happens. In a society that can't say I just want you to know this hurt me. In a culture that doesn't know how to just give love and grace, even if it is not reciprocated.
My question to you today are two things:
How do you handle things like this when someone clearly was very offended?
How can you be more focused today to extend love and grace to those around you?
#TheSassyVoice #ADifferentPerspective #ChooseLove #LoveOnPurpose #RealLifeSituations #BeAnExample #BeDifferent #RelationshipsMatter
