How do we know that someone's intentions were bad?  Did a car really cut us off or were they just not paying attention? 

Carrie came home from preschool talking about a boy who, in her view, wasn't very nice to her.  After hearing the story, it occurred to me that perhaps the boy didn't realize he was being mean.  Did she communicate that it hurt her feelings or that she wanted to play ball and they weren't playing with her?

"Carrie, I'm not sure (so and so) meant to be mean.  If you didn't say anything, he probably didn't even realize you had your feelings hurt."

I was hoping that this would lighten her mood and she'd brush it off, forget about it and move on.

Then, as soon as that came out my mouth, I realized that I had to take my own  medicine.

I have a habit of later disecting a situation from the past and perhaps looking at it through a skewed lense.
A discussion can seem like an argument, an innocent look my way can seem like a stare...when the original intention was never supposed to be negative.  And Satan knows this and he uses it against me.  And it eats inside me to where it is so difficult to find peace sometimes.

And so, in that moment, I realized that I needed to step back and not personalize everything.  Let things bounce off my shoulders. 

I think it safe to assume that most of the time, when I feel offended by something or someone, whatever was said or whatever the action - it was never meant to be offensive in the first place.