*<):-/

People, myself included, can confuse me.

I regularly post on a message board where people share the ups and downs of their daily lives along with some good (some bad -- LOL) jokes and some amazing recipes and travel stories/pictures. Some solid friendships have been formed, in my opinion, in this little corner of the world wide web. And it has been at times frustrating, challenging and just plain fun and encouraging.

So please pardon me, but I do wonder why some people choose to leave and then wonder why I'm wondering about it. Am I naive? Blind? As negative a . . . okay, I can't think of an 'n' name that isn't the name of someone I know . . . okay, am I as negative or of as ill of a character as the people supposedly causing other people to leave?

Hmmmm.

Well, the Bible does say many things of how we're to judge people by their fruit and watch who we associate with for 'a little leaven leavens the whole lump' and all of that is true. But as my pastor stresses time and again, we have to look at the context of the verses before running willy-nilly with them. Because the same Bible says not to judge others and try to deal with their little speck of a problem when we have our own logs to deal with. It also says only God knows the true intents of a person's heart. Yet we all try to figure out just that. And then we act on it.

Gadzooks, it's not like I'm perfect in my relationships. I'm not. But such *grace* has been shown to me by God and He does say as I have freely received such grace, so must I give it to others. Does that mean I become a doormat? Or put up with all kinds of sin and garbage?

Mmmm, no. It doesn't.

Lets look at it this way. If you are behaving in a way others didn't like, would you prefer they just dump you or judge you first, then dump you? Or would you try to find out the 'why' behind their 'what'? Basically, how would you like to be treated if the shoe were on the other foot? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is one of the most oft-quoted Bible verses used by many sides in many arguments.

So why does it seem we all want to be treated so poorly?