Now is the time ...... To be Tolerant

"....as much as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone”. Romans 12:18

In the early morning I sat at a table enjoying the changing colours of the lake as the sun rose behind me. A Currawong (similar to a Magpie) and a Magpie wandered over to investigate intrusion into their territory. One hopped up onto the bench beside me and the other ventured onto the table. We exchanged greetings (yes I talk to the birds!), and off they went to find their breakfast.

Later, from a different place, I watched a Currawong feeding near that same table till a Magpie came and chased him right away. Not to be intimidated too much, the Currawong flew a few paces away and resumed feeding, but the Magpie wasn’t done; he once more rose and flapped and finally chased the Currawong far away. Then Mr Magpie landed on the table and stood in solitary splendour. Mission accomplished!

What struck me was that now he was alone. He’d gotten his own way – he had his space, but no companionship of other birds because of his selfish, bullying ways. How depressing!

Sometimes it’s difficult to get along with others but we need to unless we want to be left lonely. Romans 8:6 says “…. Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” Again it says, ”as much as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone” Romans 12:18.

We choose to live in peace by what we allow to control our mind and emotions. Yes, there will always be those difficult neighbours, colleagues or classmates, sometimes even family members or fellow Christians; but we can choose not to allow them to disturb our peace. We do this by praying for them and praying for God’s grace and strength for ourselves so that we can choose to walk in love toward them.

Remember, we are all different and we all have our strange or difficult ways that irritate others, so if we want others to be tolerant towards us, then we had better show tolerance towards them. Different is not wrong, it’s just different. God loves diversity, he made it. Let’s grow in our love for others and enjoy our differences lest we be lonely in the end.

Heavenly Father, please grant me a tolerant and loving heart and help me to appreciate people even though they are different from me which I sometimes find annoying. Help me to remember how much you love them as well as me. Amen