It's not about you.

We've all been there.  Across the cash register from the grumpy clerk or customer.  Snapped at by a friend when we did not deserve it.  Believe me when I say, unless you're just the most unpleasant person on the face of the planet, whatever bad mood you've had to endure today, IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU.

I realize that's a difficult pill to swallow.  Life should be fair.  Treatment should be just.  But it's not always that way.  Chances are whatever led the snap, the grump, the rude remark to come about, IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU.

I worked at Einstein Bagels in college.  I stood next to a coworker one day, the morning after her husband walked out on her.  Do you know what mornings are like in a bagel shop?  Can you imagine what serving bagels and coffee to dozens and dozens and dozens of people first thing in the morning is like under the heartache of a broken marriage? 

I watched people rush, demand, frown at my coworker.  Was it their fault she was in a bad mood?  No, certainly not.  But then where is mercy?  Where is grace?  Aren't we better than that?  Aren't we bigger than demanding everyone treat us like sunshine and rainbows every second of the day?   

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked,  'Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?  Up to seven times?'  Jesus answered, 'I tell you not seven times, but seventy times seven!'"  Matthew 18:21-22

If the next thing out of your mouth is, "Well, I'm sorry he/she is having a bad day, but that still doesn't give him/her the right..." just stop it.  You are right.  No one has the right to be mean to you.  But for so many, at the heart of their struggle, IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU.

So try to be nice.  Try to smile anyway.  There's no reason to be personally offended by something that really has nothing to do with you.  And you never really know what's going on, on the other side of the cash register.

XOXO....Kelly