You know when someone doesn’t like you.

Not the “doesn’t like you for a good reason” doesn’t like you; but the doesn’t like you for what you can’t change, like the color of your eyes. You possess something they don’t have. Since I was that little girl on the playground running up to you on the first day of school to make friends, it has taken me longer than most people to understand this dynamic. I eventually learned to not take it personal; but not without a crash course from God regarding one of his great commandments.

So, what to do with the person with the insidious vibe behind that oh, so pleasant smile? Assuming you haven’t done anything to cause it except for your eye color, then know that God has allowed it. This is crucial, especially when you’re between a rock and a hard place when a self-appointed personal hater is a family member, co-worker, teacher; someone you can’t walk away from. With each painful experience in my life, God taught me a lesson in tearing down idols.

Anything is an idol if we put it before God. Especially our relationships. And if you were born an extrovert and people-person like me, then this can be a slippery slope. I am blessed to have family and friends who like me, even love me, for who I am. But the kind of temperament I have, I could easily get everything I needed from them. So God would allow these painful moments when someone didn’t want to come out and play, to send me running back to him, where I belonged in the first place. I’ve had the tendency to keep God a close second. His chastisement on this spiritual issue has granted me great strides in keeping this commandment, not to mention what it has done for my mental health.

I’m not saying people, especially friends and family, are not important. They are seriously important. God has wired us for relationships and beautiful ones at that. But if you should have a tendency to have all your needs met by people, or fall for this “like me” world of Facebook, then don’t waste that nasty mean person who God allows to come along every now and then in your life to remind you to put him first. “I am the Lord thy God! Thou shalt have no other gods but me!”; even that harmless little god on the playground.

“I never know what I think about something until I read what I’ve written on it.” – Faulkner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Commandment relationships