People

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“This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another”—1 John 3:11( NLT).

Pulling into the vet clinic early one morning, I spied a yellow sports car and a large SUV taking up two of the three parking spaces. Since I was only dropping my dog off for some pre-surgery tests, I stopped near the clinic’s front door, planning to run in and be out quickly before someone else came in.

I’m a curious type, so I wondered who was driving the sporty vehicle—not that I want one—but I was surprised when I discovered the owner. At first, I pegged a young woman, dressed in knee high boots and tight jeans as the driver. Wrong. She climbed behind the wheel of the SUV.

Entering the clinic with my dog, I noticed a client waiting at the counter. Because she was the only other person in the waiting area, I assumed she was the owner of the yellow car. She was and I had to laugh at my preconceived notion of who I thought would be driving that sporty automobile. Let’s just say, I pictured this woman driving a four-door sedan or a mini-van, not a two-seater with barely enough room for one, let alone two bodies. Her license plate revealed she must be a Beach Boys fan. Emblazoned on the specialized plate was “Kokomo.” I had to laugh—at myself.

Before I left the clinic, a tall, stocky man dressed in black motorcycle leather and sporting a braid down his back walked in with his pet. Cradled in his large arms was a tiny female Yorkie. How did I know the dog was female? She had a tiny pink bow clipped to the top of her head. I wanted to giggle at the sight of this large man who obviously loved his dainty dog. In my mind, I pictured him with a Rottweiler or a Pit Bull.

I was certainly not expecting the surprises God had in store for me that morning at the vet clinic. First, I think people who take care of their animals have good hearts. Proverbs 12:10 says, “Good people are kind to their animals, but a mean person is cruel.”

While I laughed at myself for prejudging who was driving the sports car and wanted to giggle at what I thought was a mismatched picture of a huge man and his tiny Yorkie, God was reminding me not to judge others. Just love them.

In 2 Corinthians 10:7, Paul says, “You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.”

How prone we all are—in our humanness—to pigeonhole people because of their looks, their skin color or their attire. How many times do we judge others based on where they live, how much money they earn or what their money can or cannot buy? I think we are all guilty of stereotyping instead of just accepting and loving our neighbors.


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