Sandpaper people

asperity \uh-SPAIR-uh-tee\ noun

 

Meaning: 1. roughness; 2. harshness of manner or of temper

Example Sentence: When asked to make a contribution, Roger glared and said with asperity,"I gave at the office."

 

I love gentle people. They approach life with softness and a quiet spirit. Sadly, I'm more apt to answer with asperity than softness. Growing up with three brothers, a sister learns to stake a claim on her space and place. (And to eat quickly.)

Several of my friends are gifted with a sweet nature that spreads friendship and kindness around them. Both women and men flock to their circle to feel cared for. Included. Like insiders. 

 

Jesus was like that, naturally and supernaturally drawing people to himself by making them feel special. Like God took notice of them.

 

I love to be around tender-hearted folk, too. It's been an education beyond college and books to watch their skills with people. Hopefully those of us with rough edges keep working hard to sand them down to become easier to be around. 

Read more:

*You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages]. Isaiah 26:3-4 Amplified Bible

 

*Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11 NIV