I had a new experience today. Someone told me that she was "completely in shock and upset" to discover that she had been assigned to the Bible study group I'm leading. The reason cited was that I talk too fast. I know it sounds funny, but she was stark raving serious. It was odd being on the receiving end of someone's dislike. I'm not so naive to think that no one has even disliked me before, but I've never had anyone be so hostile and so completely serious. She was quite blatant about the fact that if there was another place to do Bible study on the same day, she'd be all over it. The funny thing is, the topic of our Bible study for the next 6 weeks is "Celebrating Grace" - it's a church-wide topic. What does it mean to extend grace? Do we quietly accept when people are rude to us...or it that just being a doormat? Do we stand up for ourselves and not let people talk to us that way...or is that being un-grace-ful?
The long and short of it is that today I made a discovery: I dislike being disliked.
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5 comments:
I lol'd when I read that, that is so funny. I can't beleive someone would say that, I don't know what I'd say. I guess you sure are being prepared for being a leader.
Okay so I don't really know what to say about that person, but you have a heart to share God's love and a wonderful leading ability so how fast or slow you speak really has nothing to do with you leading the Bible study. I think grace has a lot to do with forgiveness and you can forgive someone and still let them know that what they said was hurtful. I suppose it also depends on how you respond back to them.
I'd be ticked... if it's such a big deal the speed that you speak then find another group. Although, if you're that picky, chances are you would never be satisfied in any group!
Try the phrase "don't let the door hit you on the way out!" Just kidding, I wouldn't really say that!
Nat says: Those who can't understand fast talkers are slow thinkers. Although I probably wouldn't say that either!
When people are excited they talk fast, isn't it a GOOD thing to be excited about GOD!
update: I talked to her today and we figured things out. It was really cool actually. God's grace really is amazing! Go figure. I'm sure this won't be the last time a blow up will happen with this particular person, but I do hope it was the worst.
Hi Christie,
I'm so glad that you were able to talk to this person and figure things out. This can be really difficult to do- at least I find it difficult to approach people about things like that.
I had a similar experience recently. I had been getting extremely negative vibes from a person here in SF. I was sure that she didn't like me. So, I approached her about it and apologized if I had done something to inadvertently hurt her feelings. She was shocked - she had NO idea that she was being rude to me, and she said she was really glad I had told her. Like you, I'm SURE this won't be the last conflict that we'll have...but God's grace is definately an amazing thing.
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