Rejection

 Job 21:14 (NIV)
Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.

 

Rejection.  One word with a big meaning.  Rejection.   How do you feel after being rejected?  I'm sure it certainly isn't "Let's go conquer the world".  

This post has been weighing on me alot ~ especially lately.  When I think - I am NOT blogging about that - it keeps being thought of. 

I think about the feeling of being rejected.  It hurts.  It may feel like a slap in the face.  I feel like i tend to be the type of person that is a "people pleaser".  I want everyone to be happy and deep down maybe I want everyone to like me.  When I know someone doesn't this feels like rejection to me. The past few weeks I have been working on this.  Praying about this.  It may sound stupid or a bit ridiculous to pray about people liking me but it wasn't that.  It was praying about how to accept that I cant MAKE everyone like me.  This has been a struggle but something I want to overcome.  I feel like facing it head on - I can do this.  Again, may sound stupid to someone but for me...this has been an issue that I NEED to face.  

During this process I have learned I cant ~ as much as I would like to ~ have control over people and how they feel.   Its a blessing to me though.  Crazy I know.  Its a blessing because even though this is my "rejection" it has taught me more then just overcoming things....

I remember one day a couple years ago ~ in fact, it was shortly after Emily got out of the hospital and was at the biggest she has been since being on steroids.  I took her and Ben to the park.  There was another girl there that looked to be a few years older then Emily.  Both her and Emily were on the slide and Emily was about to go down.  The little girl looked at Emily and said "you know, if you didnt eat so much and exercised you could lose your weight".  Emily just looked at her like "Girl, you have no idea what you are talking about".  Instead of Emily letting this affect her, she smiled and went zooming down the slide.  Shortly after that, we left and Emily began telling me what had happened.  My heart broke.  I dealt with adults and their verbal judgement on Emily when she was 3.  The hurtful words and the words the yelled rejection because of the way she looked.  Now, a few years later, Emily has to face this head on.  Let me say, she handled it better then I ever did back in 2007!  

There was another time, right after Emily went back to school after missing 3 months.  I took Emily in before the Christmas break so the kids could see her.  She was physically different and I didnt want her to have a hard time adjusting to being at school but also the million questions that the other students would have.  One day she came home from school and said someone said a bad word to me today.  I said tell me what they said - you wont be in trouble.  She said they said the F word to me.  Ok, my first thought was really?  They are in 1st grade and someone said the "F" word to her.  Then i realize it was the OTHER - F - word ~ FAT.  My heart broke.  Emily told me what happened and how her teacher immediately took care of the situation.  I, rather, went into the other room and cried.  The rejection that she would face because of her size...her appearance was what i was trying to avoid.

Thinking about how I feel when the feelings of rejection are felt.  Feeling how hurt - rejected - Emily felt with the unkind words being said to her made me think of a couple things.  How too often are we judging people by their appearance.  How often are people treated differently because of the way they look.  Do we, ourselves, turn the other way when you see the homeless man at the side of the road?  Are we rejecting him?  What about someone needing directions.  Are we more willing to help the clean cut, in shape person and rejecting the person that maybe overweight and wearing clothes that arent the cleanest or nicest?

The other thing I thought of is rejection of Jesus.  Can you imagine how He felt?  I mean He had people following Him and listening to Him speak and soon He had the same people yelling "Crucify" Him when He was being hung on the cross. When we hear the message ~ the salvation message ~ and we dont accept the perfect gift of eternal life...we ARE rejecting Jesus.  Everytime we hear that small voice in us saying "make a better choice" and we know we should and dont...we are, in fact, rejecting Jesus by not listening to HIS voice. 

Next time we feel the need to turn away from the homeless man or not be as nice to the person that isnt dressed like maybe you would ~ remember, your not just rejecting them but also Jesus.