How do you handle hurt feelings? Do you just take it in disbelief? That's me, most of the time. Do you lash out in anger? Being a parent means you hurt if someone hurts your child. Only you don't find out about it so much when they're teens. This isn't the most positive post but to be true to my theme I decided to do it. 'Cause parenting isn't pretty all the time. To top it off, this happened on Valentine's Day! C'mon, people, where's the love? My Valentine's Day was going along just fine until 10 a.m. Yep, it didn't take long for me to come back to reality.
For one, I discovered we had been EGGED. I think it happened a couple of days earlier, we just didn't know it because of the snow. I walked outside and started wondering what that white stuff was on the ground...and it was...eggshells. Then I looked up to see that it was on the house in several areas. On the driveway, on my son's treehouse.
Maddening! I texted my son at school, to which he replied, "I'll find out and get 'em!" to which I replied, "No." Then, in the mail we got NOT valentines but, well, let's call it a complaint letter. Anonymous. The person didn't have the courage to sign it. Or talk to us about it. It was a complaint about the way my son led singing in the junior high class Sunday morning. Apparently he was too enthusiastic. Made their child feel forced to clap. Well, that hit me like a ton of bricks. My husband and I were both disappointed and so was the youth minister that it was handled that way. Was it a joke or real? We'll never know.
I have to admit I'm a little out of practice overcoming hurt feelings! It just doesn't happen that much anymore! But after the initial shock, my experience tells me I can wallow in self-pity over the eggy mess and the hurt mail (how's that for a new phrase?) or choose to look past it. I reminded myself how this is nothing in comparison to the abuse Christ suffered. That puts it all in perspective.
So how do I handle hurt feelings? It's just something that gets me a little bit closer to Christ. :)
