Leah tells us about two different situations where she worked that greatly distressed her when they happened. First, there was Gabby, the new woman who only wanted to do the bare minimum. Everyone else was dedicated to serving the customers but Gabby just put in her time and watched the clock. Gabby comments, "We thought she was a bit arrogant and just a cold fish." Since Leah was the supervisor, she debated whether or not just to tell Gabby, "It's just not working out. Your last day will be .... ." But she decided that since Gabby was, in fact, very talented and reliable, she'd give her a few more weeks.
Gradually, Gabby blossomed into one of the most hard-working and faithful people Leah ever knew. Several years later, Gabby moved to a distant state and the two remain friends.
The other situation involves the time when Leah quit a job years ago and gave all her notes to the guy who replaced her, Len. Len was not Mr. Personality, but he was OK, except that the bosses paid Len much more than Leah earned there. Maybe it was that which bothered Leah but she came to dislike Len on the rare occasions she encountered him.
She ran into Len one time and queried him about the notes: "Len, did my notes help you at all?" "Oh, no, not a bit. I just threw them out," he flippantly stated. Leah didn't say a word but boiled inside. Even though she probably could never again use them herself, they were such an important part of her life! She was mad at herself for not copying them first. No one knew how Leah felt about Len. She didn't want to undermine Len's relationships with her old friends at her old job.
As luck would have it, Leah accidentally ended up at a banquet beside Len. "Oh, ---," she thought, "Well, I'll just be cool and see what's going on."
As they all chatted at the table, between bites of the great dinner, Leah found herself liking Len. She couldn't believe that he was really a nice person! She forgave him, in her heart, for doing something he never knew offended her. And, to her surprise, Leah and Len became friends.
It's hard to give folks a second chance after a disastrous first impression. Looking back, Leah realized that the reason she didn't like Gabby and also Len was not due to any deficiency on their part. Gabby just had "new girl jitters" and perhaps was a little shy. Once Leah gave Len the notes, it was his property. She should have copied them first. Let's get mad at the right people - maybe even ourselves! (and let's not take out those bad feelings on anyone!)
Lord, please help us not be judgmental about anyone we meet. We know we shouldn't pre-judge, or be prejudiced about folks! Help us hold our tongues, like Granny admonished, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything!!"
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