bringing out the best in other people…

back when pappa bush was president there was an article that said, “the word going around washington is that george bush has already delivered the biggest achievement of his presidency.  he made barbara bush the nation's first lady.  democrats and republicans in this town rarely agree on much but on one thing they speak as one.  barbara bush is first rate.”  it goes on and talks about people in the opposition party praising her.  it says, “she’s filling the roll better than anybody in memory in my lifetime,” says one person. “what's going to make bush is his wife.  she brings out the best in him.”

how do you do that?  how do you bring out the best in people?  if you want to bring out the best in somebody, what do you do? 

the bible says that love is the foundation of all relationships and in john 13.34 (niv) JESUS said, as I have loved you, so you must love one another. so how did JESUS love people? 

well one way HE did it was to accept people’s uniqueness.

we understand that GOD made everybody different, HE made each one of us unique.  but it’s easier to accept some people than others. it’s easier to affirm some than others.  the bible says in romans 15.7 (niv),  accept one another just as CHRIST accepted you. 

you can’t help somebody until first you’ve accepted them.  this feeling of acceptance is the foundation of all confidence.                                       

how can you tell if you've accepted somebody?  the bible in 1 corinthians 13.5 (lb) says, love does not demand it’s own way.

when you accept them, you don’t insist that other people be like you. parents, you need to understand that GOD never intended for your children to be a carbon copy of you.  HE wants them to be different.  you need to affirm their uniqueness, encourage their uniqueness, accept their uniqueness, tell them they’re not in competition with anybody.  they don’t have to be like anybody else. 

marlo thomas was afraid when she started acting that people were going to compare her to her dad, danny thomas who was a successful actor.  he took her aside one day and said, “babe, you’re a thoroughbred.  thoroughbreds run their own races without looking at the other horses.”  that’s what it means to accept somebody’s uniqueness.  challenge them to be themselves.

just a thought from the front porch…