Oh Lord, please bless the mean!

The meanest girl in the whole world that I know of called my house a couple of days ago. I didn't mention it then, because the stab that she wounded me with hurt too much. I was too stunned. I didn't know what to say. Didn't quite know what to do with it. It was too painful! I was left battered and bruised and felt that I could hardly move; and was a bit surprised that I didn't see bruises later when I saw myself in the mirror. She loves to call and administer her sting. She'll pierce you to the core. And then twist it. Like a poison, it has its own venom... And she'll keep on berating you until she feels that she's beaten you to a pulp. And afterward? She is perfectly happy after she sees that she's done so. I answered the phone to her fussing and fuming; and hung it up later to something that sounded quite happy in her tone. She may can sing her happy tune when thru, but she left me with a major "Ow Ow! Owwww!" and with wounds to figure out how to tend to. I'm always left to decide just what to do with what she'd done to me when she's finished.

I bet you've also got a "Mean" that loves to call or come by your house too from time to time in some great effort to wound you. Who knows, your "Mean" just might live with you. (I'm sorry if that's so!) And if she's like mine (and she's happy when she's done), she'll then walk back by your room in a minute (or call again) to offer you a piece (peace?) of candy, a gift, a kind word, a compliment, or something. "No thank you, please." Gifts are not good when you've wounds to lick. Nor compliments or kind words either. Not when you've now got to figure out how to tend to the wounds she's made bleed. She won't know why you won't want to accept it. She's quite happy now. She thinks you should be, also. She doesn't know why you're not. 

She's good at what she does. And most faithful at it. She can't wait to find another thing to stick me with later, you know? Sometimes she'll call all day long. Hateful and mean... it's inside her, and so she calls, for she'd like to share it with me so that I can have some too. She'd like to fill me with it. You know the kind? I'm sure that you've got one? A "Mean"... that likes calling you? So now what? What do we do with our "Means"?

Hmm... in reality the question has already been addressed, already been answered, already been given. We've already been told exactly what we're to do. The question is in whether we'll choose to do it or not. Jesus Himself told us while He was here and when He walked this earth. We can find the "red-lettered words" of what He's said in Luke 6:27-38 in His Scripture. Want to be reminded of what He says that we're to do with our "Means"? I've put them here... just in case you yourself would also like to see them.

"But I say unto you which hear, LOVE your enemies, DO GOOD to them which hate you, BLESS them that curse you, and PRAY for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the [one] cheek offer also the other;.... And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same... LOVE ye your enemies, and DO GOOD, and LEND, HOPING FOR NOTHING again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankfuland [to] the evil. BE ye therefore MERCIFUL, as your Father also is merciful. JUDGE NOT, and ye shall not be judged: CONDEMN NOT, and ye shall not be condemned: FORGIVE, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."

Basically, what's He telling me here?

• He's telling me to "love" my Mean.
• To "do good" to my Mean.
• To "bless" her.
• And "pray" for her.
• He's telling me to treat her as I'd like to be treated.
• To "turn the other cheek."
• He tells me to "give mercy" to her as He's given mercy to me.
• I'm told not to "judge" her.
• Not to "condemn" her.
• To "forgive" her, instead, as I've been forgiven.

And with that command I can't help but to remember the words that Jesus did say Himself while He was hanging on His own cross face-to-face with His own mockingly mean slapping and spitting accusers that had just beaten and hung Him there, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Perhaps my Mean doesn't really realize what she's doing either? Not really really. Perhaps she's just hurting somebody else (me!) because she's hurting with something else completely different and even deeper? And if I'm honest, I've at times been Mean myself! And I've needed others to forgive me of my Mean when I've been so. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," huh? I guess that I have no right either, to be Mean right back to my Mean that's being mean to me, do I?

I've been told in 1 Pet 3:9 that I've actually been "called" [Hello. Yes, Lord, did you ring me?]... I've been "called" ("invited") to "bless" her! Oops.. but do you find that it's some times one of those moments when you want to "call" God back and decline His invitation to? What do I mean that I've been called? Well, you can read what it says there for yourself, it says: "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."

I'm not absolutely sure that you caught it... but I did! He was talking to me here in these Scriptures. For as He said, "what thank have ye" if I do good only to those that do good to me? "What thank have ye" if I love only those that love me? "For even sinners do the same." But we're to "love our enemies" as Jesus loved us; and as "children of the Highest" we're to be kind to the unthankful and the evil and to have mercy on them as our Father has. I'm not to repay evil done to me with another kind of evil done back. I'm not to insult those that have insulted me. I'm to bless! I've been "called" to bless! Invited to! So that I might inherit a blessing. For woe, I don't want to be the Mean / the evil doer / the insulter that these Scriptures are talking about!

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." And "let him who is without sin cast the first stone." "Forgive as you have been forgiven." .... And somehow it all seems easier when you put it that way.

"Oh dear Father, Lord God, please bless the Mean!... for I have been "mean" too. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Help them, and heal them, and I pray they see You! Because in SEEING You, it helps to heal us all of our mean! Pour Your mercy on her, as You've poured it on me. May she be saved too by my Savior's grace! It's in Jesus' name that I ask as I pray...."

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And before any who read this might misunderstand me, I didn't write this to talk about or blast my Mean... I wrote this so that we might all take a second look at ourselves when our Mean is being mean to us... in hopes that we won't also in return turn to be Mean back to them. For after all, two Means never make sweet! Two wrongs never make right! :)