Okay, some of you who showed up to the mystery party yesterday are thinking: That’s not fair, you just introduced us to all the lame people at the party. Never fear we’ll get to the lovable ones later.

Let me put it this way, say you’re new at the dog park. I notice you have a small white dog with black spots.  A while back, I, too,  brought my small white dog with black spots to the dog park—God rest his soul—and found out the hard way that a big dog named Bruno eats small white dogs with black spots.

So as you walk in and bend down to unhook the leash on Spot, do you want me to point out all the friendly dogs?

You catch on pretty fast, my friend. *wink*

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“But,” you protest, “you’ve got a picture of cows here, why are you talking about dogs?”

That’s just how we do things around here. I tell stories and within them you’ll often discover something encouraging, something that will help you live life a little better—it’s kind of like going on a mini-vacation and earning college credit at the same time. Just kick back, enjoy the ride and embrace the wisdom you find along the way.

If you’re in a hurry, you might want to come back during your break at work, or late in the evening when you find yourself  needing a little refill for your soul.

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But let’s say you start coming by here and instead of encouragement you hear:

-Is that all the better you can do? C’mon now, get your act together.

-Look around you, all the women doing a better job at ___________ than you. (Feel free to insert the particular thing you really want be good at.)

-Why bother trying to overcome that, then you’ll have to work on all the other things wrong with you.

-Stop whining and get over it!

-You’ll only find happiness when you get the perfect hair, perfect figure, perfectly clean home, perfect children….

-No matter how hard you try—you’ll never measure up to those other women, not even on their worst day.

-When your life is falling apart, dear, just smile and say, “Everything’s fine,” And it will be.

-You’re too awkward, ugly, lazy, incompetent, slow, big, loud, clutsy, dumb, insecure…

-I bet eating a bag of Oreos is just what you need right now.

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If that’s what you found here, you would NEVER come back!!! And you’d never let your friends come here either.

But that’s what you’d hear if I turned my blog over to Miss Perfect, Mr. Fool, Pat-Answer Patty, Wet Blanket Wanda, Wishful Wendy, my worst grade teacher and the Procrastinator—all those voices that I carry around in this head

I wouldn’t expect YOU to take it.  But I will?  What’s up with that!

Think about the harsh and degrading stuff the voices in YOUR head chuck at you? Would you say those things to your friends? NOT HARDLY.

Sometimes we need someone who looks out for us. Someone to step in between us and the harsh voices that try to get us down.  I was journaling one day about a time when someone really hurt me and how I’d been so defenseless and how I wish someone had stepped in and protected me.

Right after I closed my journal I opened my Bible and happened upon this account of the woman who poured the expensive perfume on Jesus:

“Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus.      —Found in Mark 14:4-6

Those words: Leave her alone. They lifted off the page. And it was such a beautiful moment. It was like Jesus stepped in right there and stood between me and that hurt that had been with me for such a long time and said,

“Leave her alone.”

We’re called to love each other like Jesus.

Will we step in and help each other quiet those voices? Will we step into another woman’s life and say in her defense, “Leave her alone.”

I stopped to take a picture of some calves standing at the fence alongside a country road. As soon as I was out of my car these mean-looking mama cows started moving in from all directions. Soon I couldn’t see the calves at all. Just one line of defensive mamas all standing shoulder-to-shoulder.

That said it better than words:

Leave them alone.

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Won’t you look for a sister who’s battling voices that pelt her with discouraging thoughts and words?  Step in with great love, with good words and kind deeds that say:

Leave her alone.

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Next Learning to Listen post: “Breaker, Breaker One-Nine”