What You’re Really Saying

 I am going off today in my caravan. I have been walking the coastal path where I live. To complete the whole walk we are taking a few days living at the far end and walking some of it from there. The total walk is some 90 miles. It will be nice to be in another place and the possibility of meeting other people.

I am, my wife tells me an avid people watcher. In truth I love the experience of new people. Some people make it very difficult to get to know them though. They roll out the carpet of unwelcome. Others, it seems just do not know how to take a compliment.

Yesterday I popped down to my plot. Before leaving I had been given a gift of two cabbages and a turnip. Feeling good I headed home thinking I would share my joy. I was heading to the newsagent when I bumped into somebody I had not seen in ages. I commented on how well she looked. “What do you mean?” she said. “Are you saying I do not look good every other day? You said I look good today. That must mean I do not look good every day.” I decided not to offer her the extra cabbage. Some people have a wonderful art of changing a compliment into an insult.

Strangers beware!

I remember once visiting a new church while on holiday. My son and I attended the early morning service. Not one member of that congregation spoke to us at that service. The following Sunday we returned. This time I put on my ministerial collar. We were overwhelmed by people wanting to welcome us. I said nothing about the pervious week, but when invited to preach the following Sunday. I preached on the carpet of unwelcome. I told them maybe they need to have a welcome mat. That congregation did just that. They had a rota of people who were there looking for strangers. I am sure many visitors enjoyed their visit to that church that summer.

It is all about attitude really. Some people look for rejection. Let me end with a great little story.

A young trainee salesman had become discouraged because he had been rejected by so many of the customers he approached. He asked a more experienced salesman for some advice.



“Why is it that every time I make a call on someone I get rejected?”



“I just don’t understand that,” answered the older salesman. “I’ve been hit on the head, called dirty names, and thrown out the door, but I’ve never been rejected.”



Rejection isn’t what happens to us but how we interpret what happens to us.



Oh the cabbage! I said good morning to a stranger after purchasing my newspaper. He responded by commenting on the weather and stopped to pass the time of day. I hope he enjoyed the cabbage.



I hope to be able to post my blog but if not it is because of circumstances not that I have rejected anybody.



Have a wonderful weekend.

This blog is linked to my other.  The Coastal Path