Do you ever get your feelings hurt? Have you ever been offended? I do and I have. More often than I'd like.
I found the following story in a book about church history that reminded me of the dangers that can occur when we allow hurt feelings and offense to color our judgment.
Simonds Ryder was converted to the Church in 1831. Later, he received a letter signed by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, informing him that it was the Lord's will, made manifest by the Spirit, that he preach the gospel. Both in the letter he received and in the official commission to preach, his name was spelled Rider instead of Ryder. Simonds Ryder "thought if the spirit through which he had ben called to preach could err in the matter of spelling his name, it might have erred in calling him to the ministry as well, or, in other words, he was led to doubt if he were called at all by the Spirit of God, because of the spelling of his name.
It seems a small thing, a silly thing even. But no smaller nor sillier than some of the things which I've allowed to hurt my feelings.
So, for today, I am grateful for those individuals who do not take offense.
That's an interesting story, one I haven't heard before. I know sometimes I do take offense to when people say my name wrong -- not people I've just met but people who should know better.
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