Latest / Prayer Before Work / You Got Yelled at Over a Mistake, and Then You Made It Worse - Prayer Before Work
Transcript
- C0677: Someone at work raised their voice at you over a mistake. And before you could even think, you were explaining, defending, talking faster, and making it all worse. Well, my name is Sean, and welcome back to Prayer Before Work. Someone shared this one with me, and I'm grateful they did, because it takes courage to be this honest, really. They grew up in a home where mistakes meant yelling and accusations. So now as an adult, when someone at work gets loud or blames them for something, it's like a switch flips. They start defending themselves, explaining their side, anything to make the yelling stop. And it backfires. The people they work with, people who otherwise like working with them get frustrated and they want to change it. If that's you, I want you to hear something first. That reaction made sense once. It's what a kid does to get through a home that didn't feel safe. You're not broken for having it, but you're carrying an old tool into a room where it doesn't work anymore. Now the Apostle Paul writes in Philippians one, six, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So Paul says God will bring it to completion. And that means it isn't complete yet. God isn't surprised that you're still a work in progress. He's patient with the process. And it's okay for you to be too. So what does growth look like here, practically speaking? It might start with noticing what happens in your body. Maybe the racing heart or the kind of heat in your face getting flushed. Maybe words lining up before you've decided to say them. Just noticing gives you a half second of choice. And in that half second, try one short sentence that you've picked out ahead of time. Maybe it's something like, You're right, this went wrong. Let me fix it first, and then I'll walk you through what happened. That whole sentence lowers the temperature of the conversation. And it really it doesn't ask you to take blame that it isn't yours. You still get to tell your side, but just later when everyone's calmer. And if this runs deep, talking it through with a good counselor isn't a sign of weakness either. Patterns that started early in life usually take a little more than willpower to change. So let's pray through that right now. God, some of what we carry into work started long before we ever had a job. And thank you that you're gentle with us in the places we're still healing. When we feel attacked, give us a moment of calm before we respond. Help us to hear what's actually being said instead of what we're afraid of. And Lord, give us patience with ourselves too as we grow. And people around us. surround us with people who will be patient as well and finish the good work that you have started in us. Pray this in Jesus name. Amen. All right, go make today count.