Cry baby

Have you ever seen an adult act like a kid? I mean really act like a kid. You know the type of people I’m talking about. They pout, throw fits, take their balls and go home…everything seems to be about them.

Their behavior is not an accident. They have a wounded inner child.

When our inner child is wounded it means that something happened in the past that never really got resolved.  Some may be living with the trauma of child molestation, child abuse (physical and/or verbal), sexual abuse / assault (normally by a blood relative), witnessing abuse, or worse.  Normally, they didn’t get enough attention when they were younger so they are starved for that attention now. No one ever let them know that they mattered or that they were loved. The people who were supposed to fulfill those roles in their lives let them down and now they have a different view of the world. These folks are broken.

That doesn’t excuse the behavior but it should clear things up a bit. People are living their lives carrying burdens that they don’t know how to get rid of. As a result, these folks act like control freaks, liars or slanderers.  They can act bossy, be jealous or depressed and in most cases they’re over weight. These people drive our kids to school, work with us, fix our cars, serve our food and even run our cities — they’re everywhere!

Until they seek counseling to help with the healing, they are destined to a life of bad relationships, bad blood and negative behaviors. Every household they have will be divided, every relationship in turmoil and they will be bitter and angry.

I speak of this simply because these people will act out at any time and it doesn’t have anything to do with their current condition. Three things you need to do to cope with these people are: 1) Pray for them regularly. God has a wonderful way of working out the impossible. 2) Have an extra dose of patience and understanding toward them. This should not be difficult unless … you are one of them. 3) Be very direct with them. These folks are not capable of having a real relationship or true friendship in this condition. Encourage them and be honest with them. Love them enough to speak the truth to them. When all else fails, go back to number one.