Choosing To See Good - Gratitude And Love Saves

I've always been a bit on the stubborn side.  Prideful, yes, but stubborn besides.  I've tried to check my pride at the door but not my stubbornness.  I have decided to use my stubborn nature for *good*.  No matter what people do or say I refuse to stop seeing the Jesus in them.  I refuse to focus on all the "bad" in my day.  I refuse to focus on my hurt ankle or my headache or the fact that my hair is falling out, one kid is struggling, one kid is mouthy, one kid refuses to be potty trained.  I choose to see beauty.  Negativity breeds contempt.  I cannot be sucked in.  I have always been the type of person (maybe to a fault) that believes that most people are good at heart.  We are all created in the image and likeness of God and, therefore, that alone makes us good.  That alone makes us GREAT!  I tend to elicit two different reactions in people - they either really like me or they don't like me at all.  The funny thing  is that the reasons people give for liking me are often the reasons people give for not liking me.  What's a girl to do?  Jesus says I'm to LOVE.  So I will.  I will dig and find the good in all people and see Jesus in them.    It doesn't matter if they like me or if they are kind to me.  It doesn't matter if they look at my family size and whisper about me behind my back or use it as an excuse to call me irresponsible.  Jesus didn't just die for me or for the people that like me.  He died for everyone.  He loves everyone the same.  And I am to follow suit.  The deeper I dive into scripture the easier it is to love everyone.  Each morning the children and I recite the following (a piece of St. Patrick's Breastplate)

"Christ be in the eyes of all who see me,

in the ears of all who hear me, on the lips

of all who speak of me, Christ be in the minds of

all who think of me.  Christ be in the hearts of all

who love me. Christ be before me and behind me,

Christ be above me and beneath me, Christ

on my right and on my left,

CHRIST BE MY ALL."

I mean those words when I say them.  I am weak, I fail, I react in haste.  But we have recited that prayer so many times now that it comes into my mind when I need it most.  I learn, everyday, what it means to be a follower of Christ.  Some days are easier than others. Everyone has their own cross to bear.  But GRATITUDE and remembering that Christ's love is for everyone makes it so much easier. 

“But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,  Master, which is the great Commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22:32-40)