A few months back I was with my daughter and a large group of mother’s eating together. One interchange bothered me greatly. My daughter came over to our table and asked me if she could have her phone. Another child at the table then used that moment to argue with her mother about her desire to have such a device and how my daughter was younger than her. The mercy in me which makes me a great therapist immediately picked up on the mom’s disapproval of children so young having technology. I’ve published about teaching our children responsible technology use and I was tempted to defend myself but decided to let it drop.
The conversation changed and moved on. Later the mom remarked when hearing that I’m a counselor specializing in children and teens in what I thought was surprise and disdain.
This week I discovered I was wrong. Her interest in my profession was personal. The family was having some struggles and she was looking for guidance. In fact, today she entered my life once again for a different purpose altogether.
How often do we do that? Assume someone is thinking the worst when really the conversation, tone or facial expression that we are reading as negative may have nothing to do with us? Scripture says the tongue brings life and curses and sometimes it IS truly better to be the fool that keeps our mouths shut than remove all doubt.
