Love Your Neighbor

I am the type of person who is friendly, soft spoken and gentle. I don't think those sound like poor qualities, but I notice a lot that people who are very hard nosed and more confrontational than I am see these as weak qualities. I am forever being told to be meaner and harder on people. I need to be firm and assertive and forceful and push people around if I have to so they take me seriously. I hate being told these things, especially when the person saying them has never seen me in a situation where they think these qualities are needed. They think I will crumble at the first challenge, but what they don't realize is it's entirely possible to live a life where kindness and trust in others can actually succeed.

Take the press conference, for example. I was told more than once that I would need to be very forceful in delegating tasks to others and making sure things got done. I was given some specifics on how 'mean' I needed to be to a few certain people, otherwise they wouldn't do their that's the right way for them. But I treated every single person on my team like an adult who is capable of doing the tasks assigned to them. I was kind, but not a pushover. And you know what? It was AWESOME. Everything went great, and each person did exactly what they were supposed to do. I even had almost all of them tell me afterward how much they appreciated that I didn't make them crazy or stressed out, but things were smooth and gentle.

I have had situations like this my whole life. Being kind and gentle to others is perceived as weakness. If you can't hold your own in a confrontation with anger and words equal to your opponent, then you are the loser. Why does it need to be this way?

Jesus says in Matthew 11:29, "... for I am gentle and humble in heart." Jesus taught kindness, and love. I know I shouldn't be a pushover, and I'm not. I can tell when someone is taking advantage of my kindness, but sometimes it's not worth it to fight it. I choose my battles rather than making everything a stubborn fight for who is right. Love is not a gift with strings attached. I am called to love others, and if they reject that gift, then it's on them. I can only do what God prompts me to do, and not attach conditions to my love and kindness.

I'll keep living this way because it works. In my experience, people respond better when they see you actually believe in them and speak to them as fellow human beings. People need to see the gentle and humble Jesus that lives in me.