Native American Month - SHUNNED

If you were shunned, how would you handle it? I know I would be so hurt, I may not be able to think clearly, so confused over another’s reactions, or lack of reaction, that my health and emotions may be weaken.  

Hiawassee (Hiawassee – Child of the Meadow) did not use another’s fear to inflict harm on herself. As a Cherokee woman, living in the new state of Indiana in the early 1800’s, she chose to use Christian love and forgiveness, and the Cherokee belief in Balance to make her life a joy to her husband and children. 

How do we balance our lives in the face of rejection, shunning? We need to recognize that the fear is in the heart of the one shunning us. It isn’t about us. It’s about them and what their pseudo-superiority makes up for in their lives. They are under the delusional belief, if they put us down or ignore our existence, that gives them power over the relationship. It doesn’t.  It gives us the power because we can see their fear of us and the weakness in their life and feel pity for them. We can “quietly go about being in the-right” and find joy in the relationship with them because we know their secret – they fear something. Eventually, if we are loving and strong, they will lay their mistaken perceptions of us aside, recognize our loving way and call us “friend.” 

During Native American month, seek Christian love and Cherokee balance in your life. Like Hiawassee, you will find joy in the joyous, peace in the peaceful, and truth in the relationships around you. 

Doris

Doris Gaines Rapp
Copyright 2014 Doris Gaines Rapp

 

Available from www.cokesbury.com and www.amazon.com
Hiawassee – Child of the Meadow
Smoke from Distant Fires