Skunk Watching

            This Sunday evening while returning home from my parent’s house I spotted a skunk on the road.  This skunk was not just running across the road like you see most of the time, but it was taking a slow stroll up the other lane walking away from the van.  I wanted give my kids the chance to see this wild animal up close, normally this is the last kind of animal you want to encounter at a close distance but we were in the safety of our van.

            I slowed the van and pulled carefully alongside the skunk.  When I got even with the skunk I told my kids to look out the window of the van.  At about this same time the skunk noticed us, its tail popped up and I slammed on the gas.

            We were lucky because skunks will normally flip their tales up to give a warning first.  And once we drove away the skunk dropped his tail and walked off the road.  I was disappointed that the skunk was hostile toward us, getting a close up view of a skunk is rare opportunity, especially without the risk of getting sprayed.  If the skunk understood that my intentions were to only look and not harm it, we could have had a great close up inspection of this animal.  But the skunk was interpreting our behavior as harmful.

            This is really something that people deal with on almost a daily basis.  When we interact with others we have to try to interpret what they are saying and what they are trying to tell us.  The end result is sometimes we are misunderstood or misunderstand others.  What we intended to say and do are interpreted wrong and feelings get hurt.  And our experience dictates how we interpret our world around us.  Just like with the skunk, even though I meant no harm to the skunk it warned me to get way, because most times when cars and skunks interact, it ends badly for the skunk.  But my family and I were only curious not dangerous.  Like the skunk we can take a kind word by another person to mean the complete opposite because of hurt that has happened in our past.  How many times have you been surprised when you have unintentionally hurt someone else’s feelings?

Romans 12:17-19 (NLT)

¹⁷ Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. ¹⁸ Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”^[a]
says the Lord.

When our interpretations of other actions or words ruffle our feathers, it is our choice how we respond. I believe Paul makes a great point here because of the many times we misinterpret the actions of other as evil, when in reality they may just be insensitive.  Our response then puts us in the wrong, creating a cycle of evil for evil.  Forgiveness lets us off the hook from the negative feelings we have for others.  In most cases the people we hold grudges against never even realize how they hurt us, they were insensitive not intentionally evil.  When we forgive others we can once again, try to live in a way that shows God’s love to others.