Walking Wisely

OOh, wee. I know only two people commented yesterday, but I am stoked! Beyond stoked! LOL.
Well, yesterday I went into work. I was a little nervous because I had an incident happen last week. Last Tuesday, we were told at work that we were no longer giving out bags, unless it was a rainy day. Okay, that's cool. So, I go along with my day and about 8:30PM a little boy checks out almost every Magic Tree House book there is. I think the grand total of books checked out was 37 or something. Well, he was struggling to carry them all and I really felt I needed to help him. So, I reached for a bag and put his books in. He walks away and I look over at my Asst. Manager and he saw what I did and he rolls his eyes at me in disapproval. I tell him, 'I am just trying to help the little guy out'. He is not pleased with me. I walk over to my co-worker and I am like, 'he is ticked at me'. So, I left it at that, but still felt good about what I had done for that little boy.

One of our pages came up to the Asst. Manager and cracked a joke about that little kid having a bag. She was merely joking, but I heard my manage say, 'it's all Susan's fault'. Boy, that is when I hit the fan. Bye, bye wise walking. I turned to him and said, 'I was just trying to help the little guy out. If I am getting in trouble for that(grrr) then I am not sorry!' This all happening while there are people in the library. He flew over to where I was and said, 'I told you not to hand out bags.' I was shocked! I was thinking in my brain, 'THIS IS SUPER PETTTY!' And if you know me well, you know I don't put up with DRAMA. Nope, no drama-mama's gonna ruin my day. Well, needless to say, we get into it. He walks away and I am like 'fine, walk away, errr, I can't stand people who walk away and don't let you know their intentions for walking away.'

The little boy came back up to the counter to check out, of all things, more books. I chee wa-wa. I was a wreck. I just started crying and I asked Kelly to take over for me. She did. I just needed to get out of there and there were only 15 mins. left, so I didn't feel bad about leaving. So, I let my Asst. Manager know I was leaving. I came home and just cried to Michael. Bless my husband!

I was crying because 1. I was just doing something nice for someone else and I got railed for it. How petty can you get! 2. I was entirely ashamed of escalating in my anger towards my asst. manager. I knew I had begun Christlike and ended up acting foolishly.

I immediately got on the computer and emailed my asst. manager an apology note. This is the reason I was nervous about going into work yesterday. See, I wrote that email last Tuesday night. And....I had never heard back from him. I was a stressor to myself and to my husband all week. I was worried that he was so mad at me that he could not write me. Well, I go into work, grounded on Scriptures that had gotten me through the day and I see him. He is like 'hey, how ya doing?' And I am thinking 'wahhhhhhh??'. So, I ask him if he read the email and he is like 'yeh.' I apologize once again in person and he is like, 'ah, don't worry about it'. Wow, I was totally flaberghasted.

I learned a lot from this.

1. Don't be foolish again! Walk wisely. Live out James 1:19 'This you know my beloved brethren. But everyone MUST be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.' Wow, that one went straight into my 'YOU MUST DO THIS' list.

2. Ask for forgiveness. Which is what I did immediately. Don't let the sun go down on your anger.

3. I told myself this next one, but I think deep down I hoped for something else. I knew he would not apologize to me. He is agnostic and is often saying this, 'I love not having to feel bad about the things I do. I can be mean, and I don't have to feel bad about doing it'. So, I told myself, he will not apologize. But, you know what , deep down I really was hoping that he would. Now, I have to recognize that sometimes it is you/me who will take all the fault and we will just have to suck it up and put our big girl panties on and deal with it.

4. Forgive and Forget. Befriend the person once more and treat'em like Christ would. Christ does not forgive us and then keep us at an arm's distance. No, he forgives us and then embraces us close and doesn't let go! We need to learn from that example and practice that daily in our earthly relationships, because to do so, means that we IMITATE HIM. Righteous!

Challenge:
1. Keep making time for God. If you have any questions about the Bible, feel free to ask me. I would be glad to help!

2. Practice forgiveness to day and James 1:19 - Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. Let me know how you do with challenge 2 especially!

NChrist, Susan