Monday, February 3, 2014

Revenge is Sweet



You know how sometimes you’ll be driving along, doing the speed limit and a car whizzes by you as if you were standing still? Then a couple miles down the road, you see that car again. Only this time, it’s stopped on the shoulder and there’s another car behind it. One with red and blue flashing lights. That feeling of elation. Of justification. Of smugness. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge the little song playing in our brains. Nana-nana-boo-boo.

Every now and then, we hear of someone who gets a ticket they don’t deserve. They have to go to court to defend themselves. In other areas of our lives, sometimes we get criticized unfairly. We want to defend ourselves—and perhaps we should.

Sometimes we get criticized fairly, and we still want to defend ourselves.

I occasionally make a grammar or spelling error in a Facebook post. And get dinged for it. Publicly. As a writer, I feel those censures deeply. “It’s Facebook, for cryin’ in the night,” I want to scream. “I’m not getting paid for this. Don’t you have anything better to do?”

The critique is justified. But it burns. I think about it for hours. I come up with zingers that go unsaid to anyone except my family…and God.

He’s very good at reminding me of my desire to be like Jesus. Of my desire to show forth his glory through my writing. A writer has to have a thick skin. After all, not everyone is going to like what I write. If I’m ever published, I’ll have to deal with that. In a Christlike way. Might as well figure that out right now. After such a gentle rebuke from the Lord, I usually acknowledge the grammar mistake in a Facebook comment and endeavor to refrain from making excuses.

Then, weeks later, the grammar nazi makes a mistake in one of her posts. Oh, the temptation…the struggle within. The self-righteous longing to GET EVEN. I could correct her in love. Make sure he knows the rule.

But every time I refuse to act on those impulses, I win. I win the battle against my flesh and bring a smile to the face of Jesus.

That…that is sweet.

Can I get an Amen?

8 comments:

  1. Amen! And a double Amen. Love this post. It's only by Jesus's help that I don't do the Nana-nana-boo-boo thingy. :-)

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    1. Me too, Patricia. But even when we do, (in our heads, of course... We'd never actually sing that song out loud. :P ) God's grace is there, ready to forgive.

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  2. Good post! We are human, not perfect. Mistakes will be made, errors will occur. Let's not be so critical of our fellow man. Rather than concentrate on negative thoughts and deeds, we need to flood our souls with as much positive reinforcements as we possibly can.

    mauback55 at gmail dot com

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    1. I agree. Let us *encourage* one another to love and good deeds. (I know that's a Scripture, but I'm too lazy to look up the address.)

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  3. I love your post, Lora! How often we must fight the urge to retaliate! When we do, it is certainly a sweet victory.

    texaggs2000 at gmail dot com

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