What’s it like

to live with you?

 

How is it

to work with you?

 

When people see you

in public,

what kind of person do they encounter?

 

Good questions

 

So many of us are thinking about

and concentrating on

how the people around us

don’t measure up

 

And that judgmental spirit

can be so subtle

that we may not even realize it’s there

 

But what if our focus

were actually on how we can BE the person

who is a blessing to live with

a joy to work with

a pleasant face in a crowd?

 

What if our inward focus

was not rooted in how we’re better

but how we can be better

for the people we come into contact with?

– Susie Stewart

 

“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

– Matthew 7:1-5 (MSG)

 

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.

– John 13:35 (NLT)

 

Photo by Gracie Oertli