The Story of Rose

The Story of Rose                                                                                                       

Rose was ecstatic when her prayers for the job she long desired were finally granted. She immediately got on the task of acquiring a new wardrobe. ROSS, known as the “dress for less” store, appealed to her taste and budget. Entering the store, she didn’t take a cart. Instead, as she moved through the rows, she began pilling clothing over her shoulder, still with their hangers. As a woman passed in the opposite direction, one of the hangers caught a piece of the woman’s merchandise. Rose playfully stepped backwards to release the hanger, quietly chuckling at the funny situation. She turned to face and apologized to the woman, and for a quick moment, both women locked eyes. Rose’s apologetic smile froze at the sight of the woman’s eyes gushing hatred and disgust at her. “How dare you do such an awful thing!”, the ice-cold demeanor of the woman shouted at her. In that blink of an eye, Rose saw deep in the soul of the woman and her heart ached. Her smiling eyes now flowed with empathy towards this stranger. Beneath the nice appearance Rose saw a deeply wounded individual. 

The woman lowered her eyes, realizing the absurdity of her reaction to such an insignificant situation: The punishment (level of hatred) was greater than the “hanger” crime. 

Both women parted ways. One with prayer on her lips for the soul in pain she just encountered; the other with disgust with herself for allowing a stranger to see what she has been guarding for a long time. The woman was shaken to her core by her own reaction. She thought she had locked her heart to the pain and had thrown the key away, but apparently the ugly head of pain has found its way to surface in the mutant form of anger and hate. And it was supposed to be just a mundane task of shopping.

Task: Recall a situation when you have responded with an inadequate reaction. What triggered your reaction? Did the conflict found you unprepared? How often is your reaction to mundane situations “out of proportion”? 

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The woman’s reaction is a deep underlying problem that had taken root in her heart and mind. Anger and hatred are just the visual manifestations of the root problem the woman has. Jesus’ words provide explanation, 

A good man/woman brings good things out of the good stored up in his/her heart, and an evil man/woman brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his/her heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45, emphasis added)

Anger and hatred don’t belong to the Kingdom of God. These are not good things stored in the heart. What are the practices of the flesh that manifest in anger and hate? Apostle Paul encourages us to examine ourselves, 

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Let’s test ourselves and identify areas in our lives that you have sown a bad seed and have reaped a bad fruit (Galatians 6:7). 

Task: Discuss practices of the flesh that have a stronghold over your life? How do these practices affect your life? Do you desire to liberate yourself from their oppressive presence?     

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