Love People Anyway

Sometimes people are exasperating, selfish, disrespectful, and cruel. The other day Linda was in a store and had started picking up an arrangement of flowers, when suddenly a woman came over and placed her hand on the same bunch and said, “I was planning on getting those.” This was shocking to Linda—that someone would interrupt her selection when she had already placed her hand on it. What do you do? Linda quietly backed away and found another selection.

When people are mean-spirited and rude, love them anyway. We don’t have to like what people do, but we can still treat them with grace.

“So long as we are in the world, we shall meet with adverse influences. There will be provocations to test the temper; and it is by meeting these in a right spirit that the Christian graces are developed. If Christ dwells in us, we shall be patient, kind, and forbearing, cheerful amid frets and irritations” (Help in Daily Living, p. 28).

Rich DuBose writes from Northern California.

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