Friday, July 11, 2014

First the Low Road, then the High Road

Yesterday was not the best day at work. Someone spoke to me in a manner that I found to be quite patronizing and said some things that really offended me. I was feeling hurt and angry and if I'd been a Looney Tunes cartoon I'm sure I would have had steam coming out of my ears.

My plans for the rest of the workday were more or less thus:

• Vent about the situation to some sympathetic co-workers who have had similar run-ins with this person lately

• Stew about the situation most of the day

• Avoid the offending party as much as possible

• Come home and stew some more

• Vent about the situation to my sympathetic sister

By the time I went to bed, I was feeling a teensy bit better, but I still seethed just a little bit every time I thought about this person. This morning, however, on my drive in to work I heard that still, small voice of God's telling me that the best course of action for today would be to forgive the offender and move on. Even if the offender didn't offer an apology, the healthiest thing for me to do would be to take the high road and put the incident in the past.

So after deciding that today was going to be a better day, I left yesterday in the past and moved on. I even did some things today to help the person who'd hurt me, and I'm glad I did. I doubt that I'll ever get an apology of any sort for what was said, but I'm proud of myself for obeying God and choosing to forgive. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I can't control how other people treat me or their attitudes toward me, but I can determine my own attitude. Taking the high road equaled a much better day today.

1 comment:

Carrie from Talking In Space said...

Yeah, that whole "forgive even when people don't apologize" thing is a tough one for me too. You're right- that person probably didn't even think about what they said after they said it while you stewed about it. I'm glad you took the high road. : )