I went to dinner the other night with 2 of my closest friends and had a lesson in what exactly this bible passage means. (said friends, you know who you are, the beginning of this post may upset you, but keep reading :) ).
The evening of our dinner arrives and as I am getting ready to leave, I'm already getting annoyed. I keep thinking "I know they will be late, I just know it. Here I am trying to rush to get out the door to get there on time, but they will be late anyway" I started listing off the number of times in my head these girls were late meeting me out, while perfect-little-ole-me is always on time. I stewed about it in the car on the way to the restaurant, and low and behold I get a text saying they would be late. So, I'm pretty much fuming (pouting) by the time I get to the restaurant. I consider even just leaving, just to teach them a lesson.
Enter friends about 10 minutes late. I didn't pay much attention to either of them, just stared at the menu. Friend #1 asks what is wrong. I have a little voice in my head that says "Is it really that big of a deal?" And before I can stop, my big mouth is already moving. I go into a rant about how they are always late, how disrespectful it is, how I rarely get to see them yet they don't get there on time, about how I'm always trying to get "dates" together but they are too busy..yada yada yada. Both friends sit stunned for a minute. And yes, it is as awkward as you are imagining. Here is the response I was expecting "Oh Suzy, we are so so sorry! We promise to never ever be late again. We will agree to every event you suggest and schedule our entire lives around your needs". Wanna take a guess how much of that actually happened?
Instead, a whole can of whoop-ass was opened on my faults. MY faults....I-have-faults??? Whhhaaattt? Who knew??? As this ass-whipping is taking place, my logical voice, the one who wondered if this was a "good idea" was actually laughing. I tried desperately to deflect, but Friend #1 isn't down for that. I started it, now we have to finish it. But...but...this was supposed to be about ME pointing out something wrong with THEM. How dare they turn the tables. Hmph.
The information they are sharing isn't settling too well in my belly, I wonder, why have they kept it to themselves for so long? Why didn't they pout like me, ruin a perfectly good birthday dinner (oh, yah, did I mention that is was Friend #2's BIRTHDAY dinner???) and air their grievances?
Then Friend #2 says "Suzy, we have been friends for so long, for so many years. And while there are little things we don't necessarily like, we love YOU, so those little things don't mean anything. So ya maybe we have a tendency to be a little late, but in the grand scheme, is it that big of a deal?"
No. Its not that big of a deal. Lesson (hopefully) learned. On many different levels.
We ended up having a wonderful birthday dinner and I still have 2 very dear friends (I hope :) ).
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