Don't Break People Down. Thursday, July 17. 2014.

A girl made fun of me today.

She didn’t just make fun of me in passing

but rather,

she made sure to make eye contact with me

and then proceeded to mock me

as I was doing one of my favorite things ever.

It brought up a lot of emotions,

thoughts,

and feelings.

There were a lot of things I wanted to say.

And even more things that I wanted to do.

But Fr. Dan’s homily inspired me this morning,

so I said none of what came to mind

nor did I do any of the things I wanted to do.

This morning,

Fr. Dan said,

“I love God.

I pray that my

thoughts,

words,

actions,

desires,

deeds

and life

reflect that.”

Despite what I was thinking and feeling at the moment,

and despite all of the things that I wanted to say and do,

I was more interested (at that moment) in my actions reflecting my love for God.

At that moment,

the most loving thing I could do was simply to ignore her and continue on.

I wasn’t in a position to sit and talk with her and share the Gospel.

But maybe my actions, or lack of, were enough.

Maybe ignoring her made her think twice

or maybe she continued and made fun of the next person she saw.

I don’t know nor will I.

But I do know how much she must be hurting.

It’s pretty bad to find enjoyment in making fun of people.

A happy person does not do that.

A person who knows their identity is in Christ does not do that.

There was hurt there.

There was pain.

It’s the only reason for her finding enjoyment in others’ pain.

Despite what people may say or do,

regardless of how much it might hurt,

it is a moment to show the world how much you love God

and it is a moment to show them that they are worth more.

There’s no formula for showing others that you love God.

It might look different for each person in each situation.

But it’s no doubt the most important thing in each situation.

It is more important to walk away knowing you reflected your love for God

rather than reflecting your emotions and thoughts at the time.

And to the girl who made fun of me,

I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you feel the need to hurt people. I hope that the hurt in your life can be healed. I hope that you can find healing in the Healer. And I hope that you can love God ever more each day. I hope you learn how to build people up and not break them down. And I hope that you find people in your life who build you up.