'Good morning', you say to all that come your way hoping they will respond in kind. If only they could have a smile on their face, just once and a while, you could know they were happy inside or at least maybe happy for that morning, or that moment. You do your best to be tolerant of others knowing that everyone needs to be lifted up from time to time and no one is a mind reader that any of us is filled with a previous knowledge of how another feels.

I was driving to a nearby town, at the speed limit, minding my own business. It was a beautiful day not to hot, not to cold, one of those just right days. I know that I am not alone when I say that often somebody has to be on such a different path that they are obviously thinking you are in their way. Why? What did I do to them? Did I spew my bad breath on them? Did I let the air out of their tires? Did I hide their tooth paste? What is this thing that I have done, to this someone else, that I don't know? Have I hurt them in some way, just because I am in this world? I'm sure they are thinking I must be one of them! 

I'm looking at buying some new underwear in the underwear isle and since they are having a sale the isle is full of people. I am being pushed away from the very item I need. So do I become as they are, rude? Or what? I say that I need to get to that item to the one next to me and 'So what!' is what I get in return. Is this my chance to become one of them, to fall into the attitude of 'self' over help. I said 'excuse me' and got no reply. I said 'excuse me' again in a slightly louder voice and still was ignored. By now I am frustrated and challenged but I am not going to give in to the temptations, because I am 'one of them'!

     Leviticus 19:13&14 -  ¹³ Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. ¹⁴ Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.

    Leviticus 19:17&18 -  ¹⁷Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. ¹⁸Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

     Psalms 18:1 -  I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

I may be a misfit to many who think they are good, they do good things, they get along with everyone. Really! They may however, give you or I a sneer, an angry glance, a few choice words, or flip us a rude gesture. All showing their ignorance and their need to be more noticed in the world. As they refuse to admit they have needs like all the rest of us they continue to frown, grumble, grunt and grown their way through life, especially when no one is looking.

I held the door open and the woman smiled in appreciation and the man said, "Oh, you're one of them"! I smiled in return. I couldn't answer because the look on his face said he didn't want to be there at all. Yeah I'm one of them, that tries to have a good day every day, that tries to say something pleasant to everyone, that tries to abide by the law. Yep I'm one of them that believes if we all would just try, we actually could get along. There is a way, it begins with God and Christ Jesus and the Holy Ghost, but then again, it's hard to believe in such things beyond this world as they tug mightily at our hearts.

As flesh and blood we are in the here and now and our spirits take a back seat to all that we know. Everywhere we look we are constantly being distracted, and all this distraction keeps us from giving thought to the very nature that exists all around us. We are prone to stumble. We are on a course of destruction. When we turn the noise down we may just be able to hear the gentle breeze that touches the warm air to the skin on our neck. I smile often when I hear the beautiful birds singing outside may window. Yeah I'm one of them who will step over the worm crawling across the ground cause I know he is a part of the cultivation system. Yeah I'm one of them! 

     Psalms 31:22-24 -  ²²For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. ²³O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. ²⁴Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

    Psalms 97:9-12 -  ⁹ For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods. ¹⁰ Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. ¹¹ Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. ¹² Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

     Proverbs 8:34-36 -  ³⁴ Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. ³⁵ For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. ³⁶ But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

     Proverbs 10:12 -  Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

     Proverbs 17:9 - He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

     Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

     Proverbs 27:5 - Open rebuke is better than secret love.

     Isaiah 63:8&9 -  ⁸ For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. ⁹ In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

      Amos 5:12-14 - ¹² For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. ¹³ Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. ¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. 

      Zechariah 8:16&17 -  ¹⁶ These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: ¹⁷ And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.

     Matthew 5:43&44 -  ⁴³ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

     Luke 6:27&28 -  ²⁷ But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, ²⁸ Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

     1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 -  ¹¹ Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. ¹² And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: ¹³ To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints