ms. perceived

my girl just spent a week at day camp.

she had a difficult time of it. for she was misperceived.

i grieved over the situation but managed to keep from swooping in to rescue her. i coached her, i listened as she lamented about the poor treatment. i watched and prayed as she struggled to understand why she was being treated ugly.

my brother in law takes issue with the way i use the word ugly. in our family we say, you're being ugly. don't be ugly. and things of that nature.

i like the way we use it because it is a transient descriptive not a curse.

so many times i've heard of so and so being ugly as a unatlerable fact. but it doesn't have to be.

so when i asked why people were being ugly, she replied, the first rule and the last rule of camp is HAVE FUN. "mom, i'm trying."

my heart ached for her. i wanted everyone there to know what a stellar child she is. how intellectual and kind. but no. they saw her as disobedient and whatever-else.

i heard their part of the story first, so figured she was ms. behavin'. when in fact, when i heard her part, i knew it was just a big fat misunderstanding.

we prayed. i had her apologize for any perceived misbehaviour and to commit to doing better at communicating. and off she went.

i began to think of all the christians who have come and gone in my life, misunderstood, misperceived, mistreated by my judgments of them. i began to feel how God must ache and grieve over His children being misperceived.

and i must repent. for all the times i chose to believe the worst about people.

i try to be a glass half full kind of gal, but it gets hard when people are cranky (or have chronic back pain).

some old dead guy said, be kind to one another, for each is fighting a great battle.

i need to be kind with those whose stories i don't know (and even those i know).

the more i learn, the less certain i become that i actually know anything.