Christian Living

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Master Control
© 2008

by

Stephen A. Peterson


During a group session for summer camp counselors, these teens were questioned concerning their areas of recent spiritual growth. The returning group of counselors was asked to work on some area of personal weakness that concerned them.

“One of the things I worked on and learned to do is to pray for people who bother me or who I know really don’t like me,” said 17 year old Donna Monaghan.

“That’s a huge step for anyone to make,” said the Director of Camp Counselors. “Please, tell me, how you did it?”

“Oh, I didn’t do anything,” smiled the teen. “The Lord did it all. There were about a half dozen people I just couldn’t stand being around for one reason or another. I knew to feel that way wasn’t right. So one day after school, I went to my bedroom and asked God if He would help me deal with my problem. He did just that. God’s grace is more than sufficient to defeat whatever it is that bothers anyone if they will just let Him have it.”

What else can a person add to such a mature analysis as to how one deals with a problem every living human person experiences throughout their life? Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once told his television audience: “We here below must face the fact that there are some people around us you just will not be able to love on your own. But they need to be loved and, in all probability, the Lord has assigned you to do the loving. On your own, you will fail. Your last resort, indeed only resort, is to present yourself before God and submit to His will. He will provide the means to overcome your resistance. Then you’ll discover something else—after you’ve really come to know them and found Christ actually lives in them—and that is, that they are a great deal more lovable than you thought. What you will also come to realize is how blind you were to their virtues. You might even acquire a new earthly friend and, more importantly, a soul and a follower of the Master.”

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