This evening a female guest came in so happy, friendly, talkative. She is a preacher who travels around to various Lutheran churches as a guest preacher. We struck up a conversation so easily. She was warm toward me and we started to have a good visit. Then she asked, "what church do you go to?" Upon me response she looked away and with that her whole demeanor changed. She would hardly look me in the eye. She became brief and to the point "where are my keys", completely opposite of the woman who had first walked in, so friendly toward me. I continued to be friendly and ask her questions about her travels and preaching and even wished her a good sermon in the morning. She wouldn't answer my questions and just simply took her keys and left. I apologized to her for my many questions, I am naturally a curious person.
A woman of faith. A woman of a christian church. A woman who preaches about Jesus and whatever else it is Lutherans believe. Is Christianity not all about following the teachings of Jesus. Did Jesus not teach the first commandment was to love him and second love our neighbor? Are we not all neighbors? Even if we are of different faiths or beliefs? So, a woman who claims to love Jesus, immediately loses all respect for me the moment she learns of my faith? I have the hardest time understanding why there are people out there who behave in such a manner. Even now my mind is going forward and backward and forward again over why? And it is not just about a persons faith preference, people lose respect for others over all sorts of issues. I recall as a youth not loving all people for one reason or another. As I have mentioned in past posts I have become a different person than I was even 7 years ago. I have grown in many ways. This subject of love is one of them. I think that loving other people, no matter how different they may be, ultimately comes down to this one thing...how much do I love myself? The reason I say that is because reflecting back on my younger years I hated a lot, loved very little. And it was because I believed I was nothing, absence of love for one's self. Once I knew who I was, what I was worth (yes, my worth to a Supreme Being), then I had a whole new out look on life and other people. Knowing where you come from, where you are going, makes a huge difference in your outlook on things. That is why I believe that if one is a true follower of Christ they first love Him, I believe you cannot love Him if you do not love yourself and visa verse (confusing I'm sure, that is why these are my thoughts and not yours). Once you have that it is impossible to not love others. Loving comes naturally.
My curiosity is beginning to get the better of me. Why did that woman's attitude change so dramatically toward me just because of my beliefs?
1 comment:
Ditto's again! I have often asked that final question myself. I recall the thing Mom probably said to me the most in my youth-- "you can not fully love others until you love yourself". I will not go into all the details of how I would feel when she would say that, or what sparked it all the time anyway, BUT I have learned to more appreciate her efforts in what she tried to teach me. I do know that they are true and have learned to apply them in my own life.
Cassandra
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