Do I Have To?

As outgoing as I am sometimes I really hate being around people.  Sometimes if I see someone I know in a store I will literally walk right past them and pretend I didn't see them.  Y'all know what I'm talking about so don't pretend like you haven't done it too!  :) 

And then there are people that I always want to avoid.  You know the kind... those that never have anything positive to say.  Those that can turn anything positive into something negative.  Those that I just can't seem to get along with no matter how hard I try.  Here's the thing I have realized about people like that ~ they probably need love more than the people that are always happy and positive.  I have been thinking a lot about this lately and then I got an email from a friend with this verse in it:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:36-39

God calls us to love everyone like we love Him, not just the people we get along with.  I don't think this means I have to surround myself with negative people that do nothing but bring me down.  But it does mean I shouldn't go out of my way to avoid them.  And it means that maybe I need to show them love instead of brushing them off.

I think it's especially hard to do this with people we feel like we should be close to, like those in our families.  Do you ever think that maybe God made you completely different from your sibling for a reason?  Do you ever think that maybe He gave you that aunt, uncle or in-law that grates on your nerves like nails on a chalkboard for a reason?  God created families for several reasons and I am convinced that one of those reasons is to allow us to respect each other's differences and learn to work with them and look past them.  I'm not saying you have to condone behavior that you don't find acceptable.  I'm not saying you should be fake with someone and pretend you like them when you don't.  I'm just saying that I know I need to try and have more patience with and show more love toward those that I may not "click" with.  This is what He clearly asks of us in the second commandment.

I absolutely love this sign I saw on Facebook the other day and I think it goes along with this post:

Jewels*