Skip to main content

Live At Peace

 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Roman 12:18)

 

One of the assignments for this week is to look back over social interactions experienced over the past three days. Choose the most memorable and consider what it says about who we are. I thought four and began describing them before I went to work. What they proved was that I can’t or don’t follow directions well.

At work, however, something happened that threw those less memorable and significant events out the window. Many years ago, someone with whom I’d been best friends had ended our friendship and told me never to contact her again. As I said, I’m not very good at following directions, so I have sent her a standard birthday blessing each year, and once in a while, I comment on something she shared on Facebook because it came across my feed.

Every now and again, I’ve wondered what would happen when we met again, and today, it happened. I was busy, so it was brief, but we were both civil to each other. She bought what she wanted and went her way. But I’ve been thinking about it since, trying to figure out what I would have done if… And for the most part, I’m comfortable with my answers. I’m especially pleased for the number of times I could say, “Naw, not interested in going there,” and mean it. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...