YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!

"I am good at walking away. Rejection teaches you how to reject." - Jeanette Winterson

Steven was a young man that felt the call of God on his life. He came from a really close family. He finished his college and then went off to seminary. After finishing seminary he came back before going to his first church. He visited with all of his relatives for about a week. He stopped by the church and talked to his hometown Pastor. The Pastor asked him if he would like to preach this Sunday. He felt honoured and agreed. Sunday morning came and after days, of preparation he stepped up behind the pulpit looked out at the congregation of friends and relatives and started to expound the knowledge that he had learned. Well, his young niece, Kathleen, about six years old - stepped out into the aisle and put her hands on her hips - her left foot out in front of the other - her head cocked to one side - then she said in a very loud voice for her age. “Uncle Michael, You don’t know what you are talking about!”

On this burning subject of rejection; we have left out a category of people even though we have considered being rejected by groups, categories and classes of people we can relate with easily. We haven't talked about toddlers. Everyone's carrying a cute little baby, you reach out to the baby too, but it refuses your gesture. That's rejection, it's hard to handle from anybody - but from a six year old it is really tasking.

What happens when we get rejected by people far younger than than we are; maybe a little 6 year old niece or nephew? Do we fall and die or laugh over it? Yes, that's what we should learn to do when our peers or society reject us - laugh over it!

WHO HAS BEEN THERE?

"I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat." - Sylvester Stallone

As a youth corps member, serving my country after law school; my monthly allowance was N1000 (N700 from Government and N300 from the Law Firm where I served.) But it was my fiancée’s birthday. Don’t ask me how I managed to put together birthday gifts worth over N2700, but I did. Armed with the gifts which included a beautiful painting of her (I had paid someone to do a fantastic job. I had wanted to “wow” her to pieces).

I traveled all night from Makurdi to Ilorin (about 3 stops and different vehicles through the then very dusty roads of Benue, Kogi & Kwara states) only to arrive Ilorin in the early hours of the next morning. I put up with another male colleague and friend. It was there I refreshed and waited till the birthday party in the evening. As I arrived the venue of the party (the secretariat of the Nigerian Christian Corper’s Fellowship, NCCF Secretariat), I could tell I was about to sweep my fiancée off her feet. Then came the time for photographs and as varying groups, in the NCCF took their turns snapping with her, I couldn’t wait for the photograph of the day (the one with the both of us alone). But to my shock, as the Mc announced my name (as husband to be) and I stepped up to her in the midst of the ovation and shouts, she turned me down and publicly. She didn't want to take any photos with me. I could feel my intestines turning within me, my head spinning around me and my heart sinking within me. I prayed for the ground to open and swallow me but it wouldn’t. It was so embarrassing even to the brethren, that a few of the executives of the NCCF had to take her aside; for a pep talk, for her to stop the humiliation. Finally she reluctantly obliged, just to save the day. By the next day I was sick of high fever and for about a week after I couldn’t stand on my feet. Who has been there?

REJECTION, A REDIRECTION?

Wisdom Nugget: "You have people come into your life shockingly and surprisingly. You have losses that you never thought you'd experience. You have rejection and you have learn how to deal with that and how to get up the next day and go on with it."
                                                                                                            - Taylor Swift

Source: Photo Pin

There was a man who was cleaning up his desk one Friday afternoon when he noticed an envelope that had been opened. Someone must have placed it there while he was on the phone. He opened it and read it, and to his shock and dismay it was a notice of being terminated, being laid-off from his job. His entire department was being eliminated along with his position. After all the years he had given to his corporation, he found himself filled with resentment and the sense of being victimized. The man sat slumped in his chair in utter despair.

He began to think of all the terrible things that were going to happen to him. His entire lifestyle would have to be altered. He thought, "I'll have to sell my house; I'm too old to get another job; I'm useless; I'm all washed up."

At that moment, the man noticed a spider on his desk, and without thinking he brushed it off. He was amazed though as he watched the tiny creature automatically spin a strand to bear its weight and swing gracefully to the floor.
He pondered: If this tiny creature could draw forth from within itself some reserve of resources to meet its emergency, why could he not do as much? For many hours, he sat deep in troubling thoughts that turned gradually to creative mediation.

The man moved from the anxiety of what he lacked to the abundance of the God-given inner resources he had been blessed with. He thought: "My security is not in my job or in my money or in my house but in my connection with the God of grace who has seen me through all circumstances in my life. They might take me off the payroll, but no one can take away the flow of God's abundance in my life."

This man had secretly been longing for an opportunity to tap into his creative ability and interest in writing. Now here was the opportunity before him. A whole new way of thinking possessed him. He felt thankful for the new door that had opened before him and even blessed his termination from his job. He left the office with an enthusiasm and zest for life that surprised even himself. To make a long story short, he had some writings published and earned some money. Now he didn't become a financial giant but more importantly he had a new found faith in himself, and became less anxious about what he lacked in his life.

Remember, like Joseph, every time things get tough, things can always be to your advantage. When one door closes, another will open. Just look inward. BE LIKE THE SPIDER. Rejection is always redirection.