Herald A New Day - Letters From Home by Jan Hall Morgan - Christian Love©

We should always look at the heart of a person and never at their appearance. The way we accept each other on the internet is the way God's plan is supposed to work in our daily lives. On the internet, we don't usually know what the other person looks like, and all we can judge them on is their heart. We grow to care about others on the net because of their responses to us, and not because of how they look or what they have. We don't know about another person's personal life (unless they choose to reveal it to us) - how they live, where they work, what race they are, or what bad habits they may have. It's sad but true, that the people we see in our everyday life we judge more harshly because we can see them and know their bad habits.

What a sad statement to make. We should not only accept those we may never meet, but we should accept the unlovely and the hard to love in our every day life. Most every person on the face of the earth wants to be accepted and loved - we often buy into the world's assessment of who should be accepted and who we should shun. We should never fall for the lie about who is worthy and who is not. All persons are worthy of our care and concern because Jesus died for them. That doesn't mean we are to be gullible and not be cautious about others - it's that we should always react to others with love and tender care. It is a wonderful thing to feel loved by someone you have never met. And it is a precious gift to have others whom you know very well to also love you.

One day this last week, at my local gas station, I got out of my car and reached for the gas hose to fill my car tank. There were two older teens in a pickup and one turned to look at me. He made a face to the other one and said, "Man, now that woman is ugly." Of course this shocked me and hurt my pride. However, because I know that I am loved and accepted completely by God, my family, and friends, his comment didn't hurt that bad. I just know how teens are (because I raised seven children) LOL - they say things for a laugh, or for attention and really don't realize the pain it causes others. Nevertheless, there are a few people whom a comment like that would have been devastating. If you have any influence on a teenager please try to teach them to be kind hearted. Pray for God to help you teach your children to have more compassion for others.

Please remember to take a moment to show compassion to another who is not lovely (according to the world's view) and your love may be the very thing they need to gain the strength to keep on keeping on.

When I say I love you... I mean it. Love is a commitment, not a mushy feeling. Love is acceptance and forgiveness of others for their bad habits (who among us is perfect?). Let us accept others even if they have bad habits and even if they are not lovely. To love the one who is unlovable is what God expects us to do - after all, it's easy to love those who love us and it's easy to love the lovely. Can we truly love others as God would have us to? Please let's not get caught up in this world of hate, greed and selfishness.

Dear God, please help us to love as you loved. Please make us aware of the lonely hearts about us and help us to see others as you see them. Amen...