Oops. I did it again.

And I’m not proud of it.

Nor am I proud of quoting a Britney Spears song. But that’s beside the point.

Today in Bible study we looked at Colossians 3:18-4:18. This is one of those passages. One of the submit passages that induce eye-rolling and consternation across female populations. Our discussion time was rich; we grappled with the text and our culture.

And then it was time for me to teach it.

A few minutes into the lecture one of the ladies stood up and walked out.

Just like that. Gone. 

While I tried to maintain my line of thinking for the sake of the message, my mind was racing:

I’ve offended her. 
She thinks I’m teaching this incorrectly.
She disagrees with the perspective I’m presenting.
So much so that she can’t even bear to sit through it.

I resolved to call her later. To clear up the mess… hear her thoughts and objections. To communicate my earnestness in beliefs around the passage, yet acknowledge my human frailty. I was dreading it.

At the end of our morning study, after I packed up by belongings, I made my way out into the church lobby. There she was, standing with her precious children. One was in costume. I smiled and began to initiate the dialog… thankful it appeared we’d get to have it in person, instead of over the phone.

“The preschoolers had a short program today in class. That’s why he’s in costume,” she offered.

Wait.
Preschool?
The preschool that meets here… at the church?

The penny dropped: “Oh, is that why you left class?”

“Yep.”

And there you have it folks. Again. In a vacuum, I will always leap to the most negative of possible outcomes. And I will be certain I’m right. But more often than not, I’m flat-out wrong. And today (mercifully) was one of those days. I’m still learning, apparently, about correctly interpreting silence and the lack of factual, truthful information.

[Tweet “Learning optimism takes time and practice. Keep at it. #thinkonthesethings #write31days”]

But I will keep trying.

This post is part of a 31 day series entitled “Think on these things: Learning optimism.” For a full catalog of all the posts, visit the first page in the series by clicking here.