What happened yesterday brought up a whole bunch of unexpected emotions. Surprise over how quickly I became so very angry, shame over the thoughts in my head, sadness for the woman in the parking lot, concern for my children’s safety, etc.
But after I calmed down and really started thinking about it, I was able to analize the situation a little more carefully. Now I’m wondering if I did the right thing by walking away. As Scott mentioned in his comment, a prime opportunity to minister to someone was lost.
Truthfully, had I been able to speak, it probably wouldn’t have been very nice. I was being attacked and my gut instinct was to attack back. I wonder why that is. Why couldn’t my immediate reaction have been love & compassion? And how could I have immediately shown that to this woman? Instead of quietly leaving, could I have done more?
What if I had tried to talk to her? Would she have listened to anything I said? Or would it have just turned into an argument? A good friend of mine once said, “After you roll around in the mud with the pigs long enough, eventually you figure out that the pigs like the mud.” No, I’m not calling this woman a pig. What I’m saying is that if all she wanted was a fight, nothing I could have said would have mattered.
On the other hand, what if one kind word was all it would have taken to reach her? I didn’t utter a single word. Not one. And if I had, what could I have said that would reach through her anger? I just don’t know.
I want to be more like Jesus. He always said exactly the right thing at exactly the right moment. People didn’t always like what He said, but it sure got their attention. He reached out to the broken hearts and spoke healing. Why didn’t I do that?!
Not to sound cliche’, but I wonder What Would Jesus Do in that situation? I don’t know what He would have said, but I bet He wouldn’t have just walked away like I did. I don’t recall Him ever just walking away.
I honestly don’t know what the best response is to that kind of situation. I wish I did, but I don’t. But I do feel like I missed an opportunity.
This part is for the person who started calling from a “Private Number” around 11pm last night:
I am a night owl. I usually stay up well past midnight. If you want to call again tonight, you don’t have to hang up. We can talk. I promise I won’t yell at you, preach at you or anything else like that. We can just talk. Or if you prefer, I can just listen. And it won’t be public knowlege. I will not post about it on this site unless you specifically ask me to.
