Small Injustices

When I was in sixth grade, my teacher was handing back papers that she had graded. I was out of my seat for one reason or another, and was coming back to it just as my assignment moved to the top of her stack. I held out my hand to take the paper as I was lowering myself into my seat, and as I took it, the teacher stopped and glared at me. She told me that I had snatched the paper out of her hand, and that I was required to go sign her book of wrongdoing. It was a place where she made us write down the things we had done that got us in trouble.

As a dedicated rule-follower, I had never in my life signed her book. But on this day, despite my innocence, I made the long walk to her desk to shakily write my name on the line, including my offense: snatching a paper from the teacher’s hand.

It was a small injustice. I had no intention of taking the paper from my teacher in a way that showed any type of rebellious attitude. She had it all wrong. But it was a moment that I could do nothing about. I absorbed the injustice and moved on with life, yet at 47 years old, I still remember exactly how I felt. Maybe it was one of the first times in life that I was old enough to understand that the human existence is actually filled with small injustices.

If you think about it, you’ll realize that you’ve experienced small injustices today. These are things that have made so-called “Karens” famous on the internet. Things like coupons that aren’t honored, problems with orders, other adults who make judgmental or rude comments, people who misunderstand you, children who don’t appreciate you, spouses who maintain the same habits that cause us work or make life harder in some way. It really isn’t fair.

We could walk around all day long letting the small injustices of our lives make us angry, self-centered, spiritually stunted people. We could correctly determine that we have been done wrong at every turn. We could live lives of complete annoyance and pride, just based on all of the little ways that we feel slighted, mistreated, or ignored.

A couple years ago I heard a pastor teaching about secret suffering. That is, the moments in life where we suffer, but only God sees it. He talked about times when we deny ourselves, when we choose not to sin even though we want to, and the more I have thought about this idea of God as an audience to our self-denial, to our suffering, even to the small injustices, the more I have become aware that He is near. He sees and is pleased when I want to say something rude to my husband about a small injustice, but I choose grace instead. He sees and understands when I feel slighted or mistreated by a friend, and He is honored when I don’t let it make me angry or bitter or self-obssessed. We recognize injustice because we are made in God’s image. But we can live with injustice without becoming overly selfish or prideful because His spirit lives within us.

If we aren’t careful, we can allow the small injustices to make us spiritually blind. It’s like staring at the sun. If we focus on the small injustices, that’s all we’ll be able to see, and then pretty soon, we won’t see anything at all. We’ll live in the darkness of woe-is-me, and we will be completely incapable of thinking of others, being grateful, seeing God’s goodness in all that comes our way. We will forget the value in suffering, and we will quit our reliance on God.

Seeing the Lord as an audience to my choices, not as a disapproving, misunderstanding teacher, but as a loving Father who is cheering me on in holiness, who understands what it’s like to be tempted, has made all the difference. I don’t want to respond to the small injustices with anger and puffed up pride. I want to approach them with humility, knowing that I have doled out small injustices of my own to people that I love and to strangers. The small injustices will always be a part of this broken world, but his Spirit brings love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control–each one an excellent antidote to pride and self-obssession. He is near. He sees when we deny ourselves the chance to prove how right we are. He sees when we choose grace instead of indignation. He is helping us through the power of his Spirit. And He is glad.