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Give Me Five positive traits or accomplishments you admired in a person or persons that you aren’t getting along with or have hurt or offended you in the past.

Becca wrote, “Over the past few years, I have gone through some personal changes as I’ve grown closer in my walk with the Lord. In that time, there have been more than a couple of friends, and I mean long time-there-by-your-side kind of friends, who I have begun to clash with. Some have gone away from me completely and others I have attempted to reconcile with on some level.

Part of my growth has been to see how I really was to other people…to discover the err of my ways, not just what other people do to me. As it turns out, it’s a two way street and I was just as guilty as they were!!! So, something I have tried to do when looking back and evaluating things, is to try and remember positive things about them and not just the bad things at the end of the friendship.

I really have gained much healing through this process and thinking positively about people who have hurt us is a great step in a Godly direction. Everyone sins against God, sometimes we get hurt in the process too. Adding positive thoughts to the equation can help the healing process and add closure to the situation even if it’s only on our end.”

Based on where she began, I will follow:

1) *Terry ~ I admire her for sticking to her convictions on religion. This though is what put the wedge between us in the first place. She’s catholic, I was, but am now Presbyterian. My refusal to return to the catholic church was a constant source of ambiguity between us. She has ‘moved’ on to other friendships because I wouldn’t change.
2) *Ann ~ I admire her for her ability to always see the world through rose colored glasses. This though is what put the wedge between us in the first place. She sees the world one way and has no room for the real world in her life. At the slightest hint of conflict, she closes the door and locks it forever.
3) *John ~ I admire him for his ability to charm others into believing he is a nice guy that really deserves the best. This was meant to be sarcastic! Since I don’t have all day to write this post, the best analogy I can give you for him is Nicolae Carpathia from the Left Behind series of books by Jerry Jenkins and Tim Lahaye.
4) *Alan ~ I admire him for his ability to believe that his religion is the only true religion, which makes him and his better than ALL others. This too was meant to be sarcastic. And in order not to slight his religion I can explain no more.
5) *W.P. ~ I admire her for her ability to believe that the ends do ALWAYS justify the means no matter WHO is sacrificed in the process. All I can say here is that it is military related and the term politically correct doesn’t apply to her or begin to explain how I feel towards her.

*Names changed to protect their identities.

Now anyone that knows me knows that I AM a Glass half full girl and I even believe in refills. I will almost always overlook other’s indiscretions if they are an occasional thing, but not when it becomes the rule instead of the exception. My husband once told me (after a couple of drinks) that I can be a real witch sometimes because I always seem to find the positive in all things. He said that isn’t normal. He wanted to know when I would be joining the real world. So that gives you some idea how pissed off I have to become to feel this way.

So, if my post sounds a tad sarcastic or even cynical, realize that these people were given way too much time to walk all over me before I saw their ‘positive’ traits for what they were, selfish and the inability to cope in the real world with tolerance for others.

Becca is right that it is a two way street, but in some cases and on some levels, compromise can only meet in the middle if that other person also chooses to walk out into that street. These 5 people drew their lines in the sand, or in their cases painted them on the sidewalk and they were clearly on their side of the street with no hint of even stepping off the curb.

This probably wasn’t exactly what Becca had in mind for today’s meme, but it is what I needed to say and like my dad always taught me, start your negative with a positive so they’ll listen.