Loving Your Neighbor Award

When I was in 5th grade a friend of mine always had HUGE parties. Everyone always wanted to be invited to her great parties. She had valentine's day parties, birthday parties, the works.
Well one year at a Halloween party a boy dressed as a gorilla threw grapes at me. I was not about to let him get away with it, so I pelted them right back at him. The only problem was that the only thing that everyone saw was me throwing grapes. So I was labeled the "grape thrower" and in turn, I was not invited to the next party.
I sat at home the evening of the big end of the year party that my friend had, crying wondering why my friend no longer liked me, or at least that is what I thought. Everyone that I knew was at her party (including my 5th grade crush). I learned the pain of what it felt like to be left out. I asked God why this had happened to me. He held me close and told me to learn from this by making sure I do my best to include others. My dad ended up taking me out on date to The Red Lobster and we had a great evening. (My Heavenly Father and my earthy father sure know how to mend a girls heart!)

Looking back, I am so glad that I was uninvited. I made a vow on that day that I would go out of my way to always try to make everyone feel welcome. I'm sure there are people that I have overlooked or left out at times, but I learn to love my neighbor more as I experience life. I thank God for teaching me that lesson. I have found that I can always find a real friend in a shy face or a hurt heart that was maybe not as outgoing. Since that day, I would still have random dreams about missing that party. Each one a reminder of the lesson God taught me.

Have you done your best to include others in your life? Do you go out of your way to hug a new face? You never know, you could actually save a person from a godless life. They might take your welcoming gesture and want to know what it is you have that is so special.
I pray that God will guide you to love on someone new this week!

I wanted to thank the Irving Bunco Girls for Loving Their Neighbor and inviting me to play Bunco with them on Monday night. Amanda did a great job hosting and it was really nice of her to invite me even if that meant they might have had too many players. As it turned out, God saw that we had exactly 12, which was perfect. I am giving Amanda, Sunni, Janelle and the 8 other girls the LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AWARD.

Blessings,
Lori