New and Old Faces

I got a notification on my Veterinary class of 1981 Facebook page that one of our classmates passed just the other day. I hadn’t seen him since 1981. When I saw his photo on Facebook I barely recognized him.

I figured out the other day that I remember people like the last time I saw them. I remembered this classmate as young and energetic and happy.. That’s how I remembered him. I can still see his face.

Here’s the thing… our physical features are not the only thing that changes… the way we think, the things we believe, our emotions, our accomplishments… everything changes.

We have to be careful that we don’t categorize people according to their past and don’t give them the benefit of the doubt. Someone may have offended us years ago and maybe we didn’t get an “I’m sorry” so we still hold a grudge. Let that go… let it go… people change.

In 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 a spiritual mirror is revealed. As we turn to Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit and look in that mirror we see the reflection of our spiritual selves. We see our spiritual face slowly but surely transformed into the face of Jesus Christ.

Those who know us closely can also see the transformation in us. Some folks can’t see it though because they have closed their minds. They’ve been offended and can’t get over the past. They can’t see past the end of their nose… and have short noses.

If you’re in that situation just don’t worry about that… it’s not your problem it’s theirs.

I looked at the photo of my deceased classmate and I thought I saw happiness and contentment and a good life lived. I wish that I could have sat down with him and heard his story and his life’s experiences but whatever they were I choose to believe the best about him because I want to have people believe in the best in me.