How to Handle Rejection

How to Handle Rejection

How to Handle Rejection

The ability to handle rejection is all about perspective. For example, I love watermelon. It’s such an easy healthy treat. My chickens love it as well. They eat it right down to the layer underneath the skin! And then I suppose you could say, they “reject” the skin. But, you could also say I “reject” the green part of the watermelon. To a chicken, even the green part is a treat.

(FYI, I wrote a blog post on what I grow for chickens and humans, click here if you are interested!)

This past month, I found out that one of my hens wasn’t a hen after all. One morning I was cleaning out the chicken coop when Gabby decided to “cock a doo”. He doesn’t express the “doodle” yet. I guess that comes later. Gabby and is now Gabe. (He is pictured above with a couple of the girls.)

The Flip Side of Rejection

Do I reject him? I live in an area that doesn’t technically allow roosters… so, the decision is up in the air right now. However, there are some really great things he offers the flock. First of all, he warns of impending danger for the hens. Secondly, he may be helpful in fending off predators. Thirdly, with his brightly colored feathers, he is very handsome and the hens accept him quite well. It may not be up to me, but for now, I choose to keep him as long as I can and enjoy what I believe didn’t happen by accident.

So, back to rejection in humans. Often the sadness from being rejected comes from being self absorbed. Yikes, right? Think of it this way. When we focus on ourselves, our world and our accomplishments, we make the disappointment bigger than God.. and we end up rejecting the truth!

So what do I do when I feel like a reject? Take the focus off of me and instead focus on what God says about me. Think about Jesus. Think about God’s promises for us. Did you know that when God thinks about you, it makes him happy? Psalm 139:14 reminds us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That doesn’t sound like rejection to me!

More food for thought…Jesus was rejected by all and became the chief cornerstone (Psalm 118:22-23).

Do we allow rejection?

REJECT the rejection feeling. Walk away from the emotion knowing that you aren’t big enough to deal with it and ask the Lord what scripture or promise to focus on next. Scrape that feeling off like a layer of chicken poop in the coop. Once we can separate ourselves from the poop and throw that thought or feeling into the compost, it can later become valuable to us…but for now, it stinks and needs to be shoveled aside and sit for a season so it isn’t so toxic! (see my blog on soil/compost)