Today's PAYG was the story of the woman whom Jesus compared to a dog...

Her response is pretty amazing - she doesn't show anger because she has been insulted; she doesn't go and check her list of words that hint at xenophobia; she doesn't slink away and sulk.  No, she says, fine, if I 'm a dog treat me like a dog.

Which made me think.  Because it is really easy for me to absorb insults - deliberate or otherwise.  So easy to become what it is I think I am being accused of.  So easy to escalate a careless word into an attitude against which I am permitted to rage.

Even dogs lick up the crumbs... if you consider me a dog, treat me as you would treat a dog...

That's actually pretty subversive, possibly wrong-footing Jesus, certainly provoking a response from him.

So my lesson for today is, when I hear something as insulting or hurtful, not to react angrily but to turn it around into a potentially positive alternative... even [insert word] are treated thus...

That doesn't mean that all words can be subverted, all insults redeemed, all carelessness excused, but at least for me at a personal level, I suspect that most of them can.