Your Reward Awaits You

Have you ever met someone or seen a person at a gathering and known immediately that they didn’t like you? I’m talking about someone you never met, have had no personal interaction with, and their facial expressions and body language just shout, “Stay away from me.”

I’ve had more encounters like this than I can count in my life. There was a time when I would have stewed over them. I would have wondered if I had bad breath, if I was dressed inappropriately, if my deodorant stopped working, and all kinds of self-depreciating thoughts. I may have wondered how I could win these people over and convince them of my redeeming qualities. No. More.

I’m not sure exactly when it happened but I decided that these folks probably weren’t so special and important after all. I’d managed to live a number of years without them and could continue to do so. I stopped making the opinions of others more important than my own. Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t suddenly become arrogant. I just became more selective and secure in my own worth.

If I’m honest, I’m not crazy about every person I meet, but I do try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and show them common courtesy until they give me a valid reason not to. I’m usually a pretty good judge of character and meet very few people that I consider to be inherently evil. It may be odd, but I genuinely want to see everyone succeed and prosper in life, as long as they don’t harm or take advantage of others in the process.

The same way I can discern goodness or even sadness in people, I can recognize oversized ambition and greed. I’ve come to realize that some people just don’t like my spirit. I can “see” them, and we live in a culture where many people like to slide through life unnoticed. They are in competition with everyone; meanwhile I compete with no one but who I was the day before.

I don’t want to be better than anyone else; I just want to be my best self. That intimidates some people because not having an ulterior motive seems strange to them. Competitors have to defeat their opponents; I’m usually cheering for mine.

Don’t let the world make you ugly. Stay your beautiful self and honor the God who made you. We should be lifting one another up, not knocking one another down. If someone seems to take an immediate dislike to you, just recognize that they’re intimidated by the potential you possess. Keep pressing on in faith; there’s a prize up ahead with your name on it!