Not Everyone Will Like You

"If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing."  Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister

I did a big 24" x 36" collage for my kitchen.  I used all kinds of handmade paper torn into squares.  I put three squares together ... it's hard to explain (sigh), but on the top of each two different squares of paper, I put some saying that had value.  Things my parents said; things I thought were important; axioms of life I thought would be good for my grandchildren to know.  On one of the squares I put, "Not everyone will like you, and that's okay."  Sometimes we get caught up in trying so hard to please everyone that we don't stand for anything on our own.  We are sort of blown about by every wind of change ... by every person we know, and we become  a conglomeration of everything everyone else thinks we should be instead of who we decide to be for ourselves.  I want to stand for something.  I want people to be able to count on me to be confident enough to have a strong, solid conviction of who I am and what I believe.  That doesn't mean that we can't change or that we can't listen to new ideas and adjust our thinking.  But our main purpose should not be to constantly adjust just so everyone will like us.  "Not everyone will like us ... and that's alright."  But if we set out to live how we know we should -- no matter what --- people will respect us and will admire our integrity, and might even thank God for us in the end.

"We can bear anything as long as we know that you remain strong in him. How can we thank God enough for you and for the joy and delight you have given us ... ?" I Thessalonians 3:8-9a