NO OFFENSE

By Christine Jayakaran

‘None taken’.

There is no greater lie than the above two phrases. (In my opinion)

Over a few weeks now I have watched a close acquaintance deal with the burden of offense and have actually seen the fall-out that occurred after. It wasn’t pretty!

Offense robs you of joy

Offense prevents you from living in the moment

Offense creates stress & strains relationships

Offense makes you hysterical & HISTORICAL

Offense blinds you from the truth

Offense delays blessing

I have been guilty of living offended many times. I now see the folly in that way of thinking and living because it made me feel like a rodent in a cage running on an exercise wheel. Fixated on the pointless and going nowhere.

My way of dealing with offense of late (very late !!) is learning to not read between lines, not looking too closely at a person’s actions and reactions and sometimes just plain ignoring the offender. You may think that’s avoidance but for me I’m finding more and more that I don’t want to live offended.

I want to live in a fuller and more expansive way without being bogged down.

So I pray now for a bigger heart and thicker skin. No more time wasted fretting over what someone said or did. Because like Robert Frost said ‘I’ve got miles to go before I sleep’ and I refuse to waste a minute of it!