Let it Go (31 Days)

Go here for introduction of 31 Days Brave!
Go here for 31 Days to Serve (2011)

Sometimes Brave looks very different in the Christian world of following Jesus. actually, I would say for the most part it is different! Something alarming happened to me last week while I was leaving the grocery store. I had my son with me who is 6 years old. It was not a busy day at the store. It was quiet. Needless to say we enjoyed our little outing and felt very accomplished practicing our math skills at the store! While heading to our car I see a "gentleman" in a nice suit about 3 cars down from ours rushing to get his stuff loaded in his car.  We were walking down the aisle paying close attention to drivers and such. Usually when I get in my car and I see someone in a cart ready to pass my car,  I wait. I wait for them to do just that. It is not worth causing an accident of any kind! This "gentleman" had no desire what-so-ever to wait for us. In fact he rushed so much that he almost ran us over. I have my son on one side of me and the driver on the other side of my cart. He pulled so close to my cart that he almost scratched his car. Rolled down his window to say "excuse me?!" More of a get-out-of-my-way kind of excuse me. I wish I was one of those clever people who knew exactly what to say when faced with verbal conflict. I mean clever in a way that is nice and yet gets them to be quiet. Then my mind races to one of my favorite movies  You've Got Mail. Meg Ryan's character is not good with zingers but Tom Hank's character is a pro. This is sometimes how I look when face to face with such a problem.

Anyway, I was trying really hard to keep my son from having to engage with this person. I looked at him and said "yes, excuse." Yeah, I was dumbfounded so real words were lost on me. Now, maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut. We will argue that another day. I truly believe that this "gentleman" already had a certain mind frame and no matter what I said or didn't say he had an agenda. His agenda was to "prove" something. I kept on walking down the aisle and he was shouting all sorts of ugly words at me. I could hear out of my left ear while I occupied my son with my words. My son had already began the conversation by commenting on how mean the guy was and that he didn't care. My son was correct. I began communicating to my son while that may be true we still need to do what is right. Sometimes that means walking away from a verbal fight.  I will tell you his words stung. I may be christian but I am not immune to hurt. I even told my husband how much it hurt. Of course hubby wants to know make of car, description of man and anything else I can remember. He wouldn't do anything but it is in their nature to want to protect and fight for us. Such a gentleman!

So, today's BRAVE for me was "just let it go"(is that song in your head?)! Not easy to do when my instincts are to at least fight back for myself. I have to remember this guy was wanting a fight so it would have been easy to get tangled in his trap. That is exactly what it was, a trap! I do think it takes a level of Bravery to walk away but more so to not let those words penetrate you. It did hurt but it did not make me think less of myself. That is really the BRAVE part. Believing in yourself even when others want to convince you otherwise. 

I will tell you this...he did not use cuss words but attacked my appearance. So, there were some words of truth. I do need to lose weight(working on it) but it was how he was using it to verbally attack me. Yes, along with what he said made it worst. Just grateful my son did not hear those words or how he using them to attack me. My son thinks I am beautiful so no need to let his vision be tainted by another.