Has someone ever done something to you that really upset you? Maybe they didn’t even know it and you’ve been letting the offense simmer. Just when you think it is gone, something happens and then BAM! it all comes flooding back. The emotion, the pain, the injustice of it all!
“Why did they say that or do that?,” you think. Now you’re mad, unhappy, and thinking about how you were wronged.
I know exactly how you feel.
iPod Lost
Not long ago, my parents gave each of our daughters a new iPod. At the time, I questioned the wisdom of giving one to our youngest daughter who was not yet in her teens. But we also knew that she’d be disappointed if her sister got one and she didn’t. So like most Grandmas, my mother would not allow that.
Within a matter of months, the iPod was missing and all I could think was, ” I knew it!” Oddly, I took the loss personally because I’d have to explain to my parents that my daughter had irresponsibly lost this expensive gift.
Time To Move On
I tried to move on but every time I thought about it, I just got angry again. I told myself that I was over it but I wasn’t. And of course, I felt the need to remind my daughter every once in a while about how disappointed I was.
This went on for months, then one day, I distinctly felt a need to let the matter go and forgive my daughter. So just in passing I said, “OK, I’ll do it.” Immediately, I felt a peace about it.
Then I forgot it.
It Gets Better
About a week later, we returned home on a Wednesday night and there was a message on our answering machine.
The young lady on the message said she was calling for my daughter and that she had FOUND her iPod!
My wife and I listened to the message several times in disbelief. The next day my wife contacted the young lady who turned out to be a clerk at a local department store. She later related how she had been sorting through the lost and found at the store.
She was discarding the items that had been in there an extended period of time (like three months!) when something caught her eye. Peaking out of a child’s purse was this iPod. Her first thoughts were excitement that she had found an iPod. What a windfall for her!
But as she examined it more closely she realized there was a name and phone number engraved on the back of the iPod.
Decision Time
So she had to make a decision. Do the right thing and call, or keep it. After some deliberation, she couldn’t allow her self to keep it without at least trying to call. I already told you the rest of the story.
To this day, I wonder if she would have made the same decision had I not humbled myself and forgiven my daughter first.
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This post was written by...
Robert is the founder of RobertRizzo.com | Mediocrity-Free Living. He is passionate about helping people discover the rewards of daily giving.
