Latest / Prayer Before Work / Your Boss Made a Joke About Your Body. You Laughed. Here's Why That's Costing You-Prayer Before Work
Transcript
- Sean Graver: So your boss just made a joke about your height or your weight or maybe your hairline in front of everyone and then looked at you expecting a laugh. So you gave him one, even though nothing about it actually felt funny. Well, hey, this is Sean, and welcome back to Prayer Before Work. So this is one of those things that's kind of hard to even I don't know, name out loud because on on paper it sounds kind of small. I mean it was just a joke, right? He does it to everyone. You're probably overreacting. Well, that's usually the exact story running through your head right after it happens. Mostly because calling it out or naming it as what it actually is, which is disrespect to dressed up as humor, feels like more trouble than it's worth. So you laugh along and you go back to your desk and something inside of you. Shrinks a little more each time it happens again. Well, scripture actually has something direct to say about how a person is actually made. And it's worth remembering the next time this happens. So in Psalm 139, verse 14, King David writes, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul. knows it very well. Now that's not a verse about self-esteem in some shallow sense. It's it's a statement about where your worth actually comes from, and it's not from your boss's opinion of your body or your appearance. He doesn't get to define that. Even if he has more authority over your paycheck than you do over his behavior. Whatever he's laughing at, God calls it fearfully and wonderfully made. Those two things cannot be entirely true, and the truer one isn't up for a vote in that meeting. Now that doesn't mean you have to make a scene or blow up the relationship over every comment, but it might mean that you stop laughing along automatically. Instead, maybe just let a beat of silence sit there instead. It might mean a private, calm conversation, you know, maybe something like Hey, that comment about my height, I I know you meant it as a joke, but I'd really appreciate it if that wasn't a running bit. You're allowed to draw that line without apologizing for having one. And you don't know anyone a laugh at your own expense just 'cause they hold more power than you do. So let's pray. Well Lord, i it's exhausting to keep smiling through comments that actually hurt, especially from someone we can't easily push back on. But Lord, give us the courage to set a boundary, even a small one, instead of just absorbing it again and again. Remind us daily that how we were made isn't a joke, no matter who's laughing. And where we need to have a hard conversation, give us the right words and the right moment for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Now go make today count.