Our neighbors this winter are people we’ve known for half a dozen years. They are about ten years older than us. They are the salt of the earth-type of people, and I have grown especially fond of her as the years have gone by. If it weren’t for them, I’m not sure where we’d be spending the winter. They were the ones who’d done all the legwork last year, going from one RV park to the next, looking for just the right one. I appreciate their efforts very much, because it saved me many phone calls and inquiries when we abruptly changed our minds regarding where to go this winter. I love these people.
Needless to say, we see each other most days. Him, mostly, as he’s like me: an early bird, always needing something to do. He comes over and visits whenever one of us is sitting outside, and most of the time, the visits are pleasants.
Lately, though, I’ve noticed that he’s been throwing in digs about President Trump, whom he knows we support wholeheartedly. On the outside, I seem to smile and let the comments pass. But on the inside, I’m really irritated. I don’t understand why he does it.
Times such as this is when I’m most grateful for habitual gratitude…it would be so easy to engage my neighbor in a spirited debate, but I detest talking politics. It never ends well. I’d rather talk about anything uplifting, which politics does not. Instead, I’ve been trying to make myself express gratitude for this person being in my life; I know God arranged for us to be neighbors, probably to teach me a lesson.
It probably isn’t coincidence that another friend suggested a book to me a couple of weeks ago, The UnOffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better, by Brant Hansen. The suggestion came at just the right time time. God works in mysterious ways.
I really do love my neighbor; I just wish he’d keep his Trump comments to himself. Just the other day, he asked my husband what it is about Trump that we liked. My husband replied that Trump was the first president in our lifetime who actually put America first and did what he said he was going to do. I thought that short conversation might have been the turning point…and it may still be, for all I know.
I’m getting lots of practice in not allowing others to disturb my peace, and I’m grateful for that. I’d be I’m grateful that I’m learning to ‘move on’ by realizing I have a choice in how I react to triggers. Sometimes I forget, but I’m getting better. Probably because I’m getting to so much practice. Yet something else to be grateful for!
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” ~Job 2:9-10
