Wait?! What??? Are the plants perverts or are our clothes and shoes somehow harmful to them? This sign so confuses me. Someone had to have made it for a reason and posted it to give a directive. But is this the message that they truly intended? I wish I could scan down to the floor and see if there is a pile of discarded clothes as customers blindly complied with this directive. How often in life to we state something firmly that doesn’t convey our intent? I can think of a few incidents where I just missed the mark.
Lissa and I were discussing the bedrooms of her apartment. I was sure that both bedrooms shared a wall with her neighbor. She insisted they did not. We even drove over to her place so I could visualize it in my mind. What I hadn’t considered was the 90 degree turn at the bottom of the stairs. My perception was with the stairs rising strait up. She was right and I was wrong. But boy was I convinced of my thought process and conclusion.
Recently, I just knew I knew another person’s heart about a situation. Their actions hurt me deeply. I jumped to the conclusion that they had horrible intentions to exclude me. I would have staunchly held on to my anger and hurt but a wise Elissa encouraged me to reach out and heart check the other person. My plan was to simmer in my wrong and even remove them from my life. After all, an eye for an eye right? But when I reluctantly spoke with this friend she was able to explain her actions and even her discomfort at the situation. She felt powerless in the situation to let me know what was going on not believing it was hers to share. At the end of our conversation we agreed that even when others were involved we would inform one another of the circumstances so this doesn’t happen again. Thankfully, I didn’t cast her out from my life or disrobe before entering the garden center.
I want others to let me explain my heart in a situation when my actions can appear harsh or hurtful. Recently, I reached out to a friend about a loss that affects her life deeply. She has told me that it is better to focus on the love not the loss. It hurt her deeply when I called. I called because I love her and share her grief. Her heart said that she had told me not to talk about it before and she interpreted my call as insensitive and cruel. Just like the sign doesn’t really hope for a garden center full of naked people picking out plants, my call was about loving her. It sure wasn’t received that way. She hung up. I prayed for her to see my heart not my forgetful misstep. I hope she can reach out and forgive me while recognizing my love for her.
There may be times when we are in a clothing optional space. Ronnie B and I went to the Exploritorium in San Francisco with a group of friends. There was a section that was clothing optional. Thankfully it was not required. But it did give me the queasy stomach at one point crawling in the dark through birdseed. Picturing those who went with the optional option made me question the hygiene of this adventure. Luckily, I let that go and enjoyed our time with others laughing our way through a dark maze of God only knows what. How often do you think they change out that bird seed and clean the insides? Maybe instead of assuming the worse I need to ask and find out. For now I will be glad that nobody in our group got sick some forty years ago. Now to address MacDonald’s ball pits. Hmmmmmmm.
In Him,
Joyful
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