I don’t handle rejection
well. Sometimes I can see it coming, but it is still hard to accept the reality
of not being wanted, of not realizing what I want. Sometimes I do not see it
coming. That’s the worst, when my work, my plan, my personality, is rejected
and it is a complete surprise to me. I wait
for an answer to my request, anticipating that this is exactly what God wants
for me, but then the letter comes: Rejected.
This past week I was rummaging through some old papers in my endless
effort to clean my mess in our basement and I found a rejection letter from
several years ago. I don’t know why I saved it. I tried to re-read it, and it
was oddly painful all over again.
Later that day I followed a
Twitter link from Anne Lamott. (If you don’t know Anne Lamott’s work, find it.
She is will really stir your thinking!) She provided a link to a poem her pastor published, which ends
like this:
“But I’ve found within another word, an eternal point
of view.
It speaks of blessing; it speaks of truth:
‘Man’s rejection is God’s protection.’
Mama used to
say. So, I’ll incline my heart to this truth, empowered on my way.” (Rejection
A poem about hopes deferred. Veronica R. Goines ©Presbyterian Church (USA),
a corporation)
Rejection. Protection. You
choose the word you want to keep in your heart.
It is one thing to say that God is watching over us, guiding us on the way.
It is another thing to believe what we say when the wheels come flying off of
our lives. I know that when I look back
on the letter I re-discovered that God was in fact protecting me from myself,
if not others, when I was rejected. The
ensuing years since that rejection have been a blessing, a truth I treasure. Do you harbor in your heart the pain of a
past rejection? Are you struggling with a current rejection? Pray today that God would open your eyes to see
in it God’s protection; a hope deferred. Be empowered on your way.
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