LIFESAVERS

Yesterday we went for a drive. We like to do that. Just get in the car and go. It's more fun here because there are so many places we've never been. We find the most interesting things on our trips. Sometimes they are just a few miles. Sometimes they are a few hours. This time we were only gone about a couple of hours and we saw some cute little towns in our area.

While we were driving I was eating some Lifesaver mints. You know the kind that are in individual cellophane wrappers? My favorite ones are the ones that are kind of soft so when you bite them they just fall apart in your mouth. I got thinking about that and wondered what made them soft and all the others hard? They all have the same ingredients. They all came down the same assembly line. They were all handled and packaged and shipped the same way. Why were some soft and most hard. Then I thought people are like that too. Some are hard and some are soft. We are all made of the same ingredients. We all come from the same place. Yet some people are hard and some are soft. I think I'm hard on the outside and soft on the inside. I have had some adversities in my life and I had to be tough to get through them. I grew up in a rough area of town, went to a rough school, had an odd family life. I had to be tough. Yet I learned along time ago that you can't shut everyone out. You still have to let people in so you can love them. The most valuable lesson I have learned from God is forgiveness. It is so hard to forgive people who hurt you. Some don't even want it or care if you give it to them. But for your own sake and sanity you have to forgive them or you become bitter and mean. I have worked the past few years not to be bitter or mean. As people age they think they know everything. They look at young people and only see the mistakes they make. I noticed that if I don't smile some of the lines on my face make me look like I'm scowling. I don't want to walk around scowling all day so I make a special effort to smile.

Now I know I said my favorite Lifesavers are the soft ones but, I have determined that my favorite people are the hard ones. They are more interesting and they have better stories to tell. God has blessed them with challenges so they can boast on his grace and mercy. I am a hard one but I am soft in the middle. How about you?