I am grateful today for this book.

I am grateful for the beginning to my days this week that included chapters from this book.

I am grateful for the reminders this week of the hard people in our life – hard to love people in our life.

I am grateful for conviction.

I am grateful for the ones who are on the other side politically that drive me a little batty. I don’t even have a side these days, but I am grateful for those who do and are so opinionated – they are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones who hurt me deeply with their rejection and their silence. They are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones who make wrong decisions and come to us to bail them out – they are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones I do not understand, the ones who cannot see the forest through the trees, the ones who do not ask for advice but go headstrong and think they know all – they are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones who make me feel very uncomfortable and awkward, the ones who make me feel inferior and unworthy, the ones who make me feel like I do not know anything – they are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones who cannot keep their opinions to themselves, who only talk about themselves, who are “takers” – they are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones who do not say “Thank you.” They are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones who are not like me. They do not dress like me, they do not worship like me, they do not live like me, they do not speak like me. They are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones who do not drive right, do not use correct English, do not wash their hands before they leave a bathroom, clip their fingernails in public or in my presence, do not brush their teeth, scream at their little ones in public, mistreat their animals – they are my challenge to love everybody, always.

I am grateful for the ones on MY side of the fence – the ones who sinned, the ones who harmed unknowingly, the ones who have been shamed, the ones whose sins are still being held against them long after the offenses. They are my challenge to love and accept everybody, ALWAYS.