Tonight I went to a gathering (I don't much like to use the word "party" as a noun) at the home of two people I am ever so pleased to call my friends, and I took my new roommate with me. She hasn't met many people in the week that she has been here, and I really wanted her to meet the fabulous people that I call my friends. I, of course, had ideas of how she would fall in love with my friends as everyone else does. But see, we had a problem. She had a very long week at her new job, and has had a slightly hard time adjusting to the change of moving here and leaving everything she had ever known on her own free will. I get that. So she wasn't much in the "partying" mood tonight, and stayed slightly hidden most of the evening.
Something I've learned very quickly about her is that when she gets really tired, she gets really sad. This has broken my heart every time, because I want very much for her to feel comfortable and happy here. I want to do everything I can to help her feel welcome, and loved, and happy to be here. Tonight, though, I seemed to have had my own agenda. She was ready to leave and go to bed, and I chose to ignore the signs and keep pursuing my own happiness. This was wrong of me, but it gave the chance for another one of God's beautiful daughters to step into her life and love the way He taught us. It was truly beautiful.
There is a person in my group of friends that I have a really hard time getting. One of those things where I really don't want to misunderstand them. I really want to be able to put aside past opinions and barriers, and be able to open the eyes of understanding between this person and me. It has been a desire of mine for months, but I had yet to accomplish this. I really wanted to have a friendship with this person; I've felt drawn to them. That being said, this might have been one of the last people I expected my roommate to form a bond with. And yet, if I had had any sense at all, I would have seen how perfect it would be. And it was.
This person is so incredibly kind. She sat and talked to and loved on my precious, homesick new friend while I was selfish. She listened, and she gave of herself. The eyes of my heart were opened at the goodness I saw in this person, and all of the prior opinions I had fell away. That, to me, is one of the greatest blessings God has so obviously placed in front of me in a long time. To see such genuine kindness in another person that I am so often afraid I misunderstand, while at the same time feeling the sting of my own selfishness. I am blessed to have seen such beauty in another person. I am so grateful to them for loving my new friend. It means the world to me when people show kindness to the people I care about. It's so precious.
I know this probably hasn't made much sense to anyone but me. These are just my thoughts tonight, about a few people I really care about. I really hope sometime I can tell this friend of mine how precious I think they are, and how much I appreciate the goodness that just spills out of them. I am ever so grateful that they showed such kindness to a stranger that I happen to care so much about. I really am just so grateful that this person is who she is, and that I'm beginning to see who she is through fresh, new eyes.
I'm convinced that sometimes the most beautiful people God creates are standing right in front of us, but we can't see it because our human hearts are too quick to judge, or too stubborn for second chances. I want to banish these attitudes from my heart and from my life. I want to see people through the eyes of Jesus, and I want to see such goodness in people much more often. I've said it a million times, and I'll say it again: I am ever so blessed to know the people I know. They are some of God's greatest creation. Tonight, again, I was reminded.
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