I get it, really I do.
Life has not been kind to some of us.
Life has kicked us in the shins, run over our toes and punched us in the gut!
I get it, really I do.
Some of us have had to fight our way through life, have had to fight and claw our way just to get to survival.
I get it, really I do.
Some of us have had more than our share of shame and disrespect and humiliation.
Some us were born into loss and things have not gotten any better.
I get it really I do.
For some of us, rules have been our bane, have squashed our dreams and made us feel less than acceptable.
Rules have kept us chained to our circumstance and shackled to our brokenness.
I get it really I do,
but
when you find yourself in a situation where someone is ready to make an exception for you, to bend the rules for you, SHUT THE HECK UP and receive the gift!

Uhmmm, pay attention, Donna!

I have worked with the backpack giveaway for many, many years.
I am the first line of defense, the manager, if you will, who directs the line, the helpers and answers questions.

Through trial and error, a system has been developed to accommodate the needs of everyone who brings their children, but the rules are not carved in the stone.

I may be the person who says, “No,” but I am also the person who can say, “Yes.”

One rule we have is that the backpacks are designated for grades K-12 and and college students. No adults, and no pre-schoolers because we very seldom have backpacks small enough for them, plus, why does a three year old and younger need a backpack?

Today, a parent brought in a child in a stroller for a backpack.
The parent did not like my response about no backpack.
The parent proceeded to tell me how they had been given the wrong information by “those people over there.”
The parent was beginning to work herself into a heated lather.

I have been doing this a long time.
I don’t get angry. I don’t get irritated. I don’t get frustrated.

Me: “If you will just stop and listen to me, you will discover that I can make you the exception.”

The parent over talks me and continues to vent about wrong information from “those people over there.”

Me: “Those people over there do not manage this station; I manage this station and if you will just listen, you will discover I can make you the exception.”

The parent continues their rant, then decides to storm off with, “I don’t need this!”

Sighhhhhhh

I stop the parent as I think, “You will not walk out to bad mouth this event, not on my watch!”

Me: “If you will stop talking long enough to allow me say, ‘Yes,’ I will say ‘Yes.”

It felt like a Laurel and Hardy routine, that’s how long it took to get to this point,

“Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know is on third.”

I had been saying “Yes,” all along, but because past experiences were dictating this parent’s present response, they were not ready to even receive the “Yes.”

Ohhh, that’s a revelation right there, present response dictated by past experience!

We have all done this very thing at some point in our lives.

I get it, really I do.

But, sometimes, you just have to SHUT THE HECK UP!

That goes for me, too!

Point to Ponder: I wonder, how many of us are missing God’s “Yes,” because we are so intent on telling Him how unfair life has been to us that we will not stop talking long enough to listen to what He is saying.