Have you ever had one of those highly unpleasant exchanges when someone you love asks, “Is it your time of the month?” Bad idea. Very bad idea.
Let me just say, that is never a good question to ask a woman because usually when that question is asked, it is because she just freaked out or melted down! Let’s be honest — emotions crest and feelings take a dive on any given day of the month! It isn’t always hormones that make our emotions get out of control!
I begin with a confession: when my life feels out of control, I clean something! Yes. A messy drawer, an unruly closet, under my son’s bed — anything that needs sprucing up becomes therapy for me when I am overly stressed! That’s all well and good until everything is clean and I still feel cluttered on the inside!
Even if you aren’t a “cleaner” when you get stressed, you do something to reduce stress and feel more control — you may be an eater or a shopper or a procrastinator or a crier or an exerciser or… well, we all have our ways of managing when life gets crazy.
But recently, I found myself out of drawers to organize and closets to clean! I was still feeling like stress was bigger than me and had more control than I wanted it to, so I decided to clean out my inbox!
You’re probably turkeyed-out about now, right?
If you’re not out helping to boost the economy with all the other shoppers on Black Friday, you may just want to snuggle up with some hot chocolate and think about being grateful. So… can I join you? Let’s get real about gratefulness.
But, first, I need to get real about anger… because anger keeps us from gratefulness.
He seemed like such a sweet guy, but it got kind of awkward when he came to our table five different times to tell us we glowed.
Yes, glowed. He said we glowed.
He was our server and as he handed us our menus, he paused, cleared his throat and acted like he had just been struck by lightning! “I just have to stop and tell you that you glow. If nobody has ever told you, I am telling you now, you have this glow about you.”
Now, if Moses had been sitting there with us at lunch, the server’s obsession with our glow would have made more sense. (Exodus 34:29-35) But, it was just us! My friend Callen and I giggled but he interrupted and told us he was totally serious.
Mean girls grow up. It sure would be nice if all those years of living would make a mean girl a gentler woman, but sometimes, the mean girl just grows into a mean woman. I know this because I got an email from one of them. I never met her and she doesn’t know me, but after she read my bio from my website, she felt the need to give me the what for!
And, can I be honest? I felt the same need. Let me give you an excerpt of her note to me and then, I’ll give you my response. My response may help you the next time you deal with a mean girl who grew up without maturing.
You skip breakfast. You’re late for work. You forgot to pack little Joey’s lunch. Your laundry basket is a Mt. Everest of dirty clothes. Your Dad is in the hospital. You can’t seem to get the groceries bought. You still haven’t returned that growing list of phone calls and text messages. Your mother needs you. Your friend needs you. Your husband needs you. Your kids need you. Your boss needs you… you need to be cloned or counseled or consoled or caught up in the air to meet the Lord!
“Rapture me Lord!”
You feel stressed. You feel guilty. You feel… overwhelmed!
