Search

Ruby Tuesdays

Bianca Givner
Mar 16, 2019
4 min read

If you are a woman, you have at one time had to experienced THAT person. She's the fly in your soup, and the eyelash in your eye. She's the runner in your brand new pair of pantyhose three minutes before your presentation. Sometimes there's a reason but most times it's for absolutely nothing (i.e. a hater). It doesn't matter if it's at work, at school or even CHURCH, there's that one individual that you cannot click with. Just knowing their going to be wherever you have to be makes your eyes roll like dice as you mentally text the Lord: "Please, not today, Jesus."

This was me a few years ago. I was working for a customer service company while in school. There was some amazing women who attended the same college I did and I had the pleasure of working with all of them . Well, all of them except... HER. Well call her Ruby for shame's sake. Ruby was that person and when I say she was mean, honey, she was MEAN. We had some of the same classes together and she would purposely do things to tick me off. She would pass papers out to everyone in the class but me. On my birthday, I had a pin stating it was my special day. She noticed and scoffed, "Ugh is today your birthday? Gross. I'm SICK I have to share my day with this troll." "The class erupted with laughter, so you could imagine the color draining from my face when she pranced into my job as the new hire. I figured it'd stop since we were at work but ohhhhh no. I would be talking to a coworker and she would sit right on my desk, in between the two of us and start a conversation as if I wasn't even there. Talk about making my blood boil. It was then I had to make a decision. Either stay quiet until I explode, or I ask my mom and figure out what to do.

"What do you mean pray FOR her?" I asked. I had heard her loud and clear and I was not a happy camper about what she had instructed me to do. See I was ready to shake off the full armor of God and put on the full armor of Muhammad Ali. I had HAD it with sis! My mom replied, " You never know what someone is battling. Talk to her and pray for her. Trust me." Well before I knew it, it was another dreadful work day. My knees buckled as I let the words "Hey Ruby, can I talk to you for a second?" fall from my mouth. "For what? I don't have anything to say to you." She snapped.

"I know, I'd just like to clear some things up. It'll just take a moment." She rolled her eyes and slid out her seat, huffing the whole way back to mine. I took a deep breath, looked her in her eyes and asked, " Have I done anything to you to make you dislike me? if so, I genuinely apologize." "No," she reported, laughing in my face. "I just don't like you." It was then, I knew my mom was absolutely right. Some people, you have to just pray for and keep going. "I'm sorry to hear that but that's okay. I'll be praying for you. God bless you, Ruby." I said with a smile. I walked away feeling alot better knowing this was out of my hands and in the Lord's. I went back to my desk and began to pray for her. NOT like, "Lord let her hair fall out because I am TIRED" but "Lord, whatever her struggles are, make the crooked roads straight for her."

Luke 6:35 says:

but love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

A few years go by and I get an inbox on facebook. It was from RUBY. By this time I was newly married and told my husband..."You won't believe who had the NERV..." I was quickly humbled by her message. She told me she wanted to congratulate me on my wedding and that she was happy that I was doing so well. She then apologized for the way she had treated me five years before. Ruby revealed that she had been going through an extremely rough time at home. She was simply being a bully and had no way to express her hurt from her home life. She told me that when I said that I'd be praying for her, a rock hit the pit of her stomach. She couldn't believe I was still choosing kindness even though she was horrid to me. She even heard me at my desk that day genuinely praying for her and it changed her outlook on life. Shame was the only thing that kept her from apologizing sooner. We became fast friends after that and have been ever since.

To this day, when I run into a new "RUBY," I know just what to do. You never know what silent battle someone is fighting. Be kind always and show the love of Christ unconditionally. You might be the only smile and the only glimmer of positivity someone sees. More importantly, you may change their entire world!

Bianca Givner is an aspiring writer just getting started. Look for her children's book series to be released around Christmas.