Think a minute…Have you ever thought how easy life would be if you did not have to deal with people? But it would also be very empty! In spite of our problems with people, they are what make our life worth living. Think about it. With no people, we have no love—and what is life without love? It’s so true that at the end of our life, all that really matters are the people we shared it with. The sooner we learn how to live happily and successfully with people, the sooner we will have our best life possible.
But the first step in learning is to unlearn our unhealthy, bad habits and ways of relating to others. We need to open our mind and heart to new, better attitudes in getting along with people. If we ourselves are not willing to change, we cannot change our life. Fortunately, it’s never too late. I have seen people 80-years-old “turn and learn” how to better love and live with people.
One of our bad habits of dealing with people is playing the “blame game”—whether it’s a husband and wife blaming each other, children blaming their parents, a brother blaming a sister, or when we blame other races and ethnic groups for our problems. Adolf Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems. The Roman Emperor blamed the Christians for some of his failures. But until we honestly face the facts and take responsibility for our own wrong ways of living, we cannot change our relationships and life for the better.
Another bad habit we have is judging people. We think we know what is wrong with everybody else, but we do not see what’s wrong with ourselves. We put labels on people just because they are a little different than us, so we don’t have to do any real thinking or care enough to truly get to know that person as an individual. Even though we hate it when someone labels and judges us like that.
Remember, “The soft skills are the hard skills.” Precisely cutting and polishing diamonds takes far greater skill than smashing rocks with a hammer. It takes a bigger heart and better mind to truly understand and love people as they really are. It takes more wisdom, strength, and social skill to see both the good and the bad qualities of people, yet accept them and love them in such a way that they want to change and improve. After all, that is what we need them to do with us.
Won’t you ask Jesus to start changing you? He wants to help you grow a bigger, more compassionate heart toward other people? He will also both broaden and deepen your mind to start understanding and wisely loving each person, just as He loves you. Just think a minute…