As we were driving this afternoon I was listening to the movie Cinderella playing from the back of the car. It has been at least a decade since I have seen this movie and while listening I am finding myself learning right along with my children. I love Cinderella’s positive attitude and her outlook on things that I personally would have a hard time being grateful for. As she is serving those who don’t appreciate her she stays positive and does her best even though she won’t be thanked for it. There was a particular scene that caught my attention. Cinderella wakes early and starts her day by taking care of the needs of those around her. As she waking her dog she begins to talk to him about the dream he is having. Her tone is supportive until the dog shares satisfaction in “catching” the not so nice cat. She then proceeds to tell him why it is not nice to treat the cat that way and she talks about there being good in all things. She challenged him to think about the good in Lucifer, and my heart was challenged.
These words rung loud and clear in my head. How often do I make an impression of someone and write them off. I find myself putting people to the side because of an attitude, an out look, or a mis-perception. This furthered my thought process and I begin to think, What opinions do others have of me? Maybe we met on a day where things just weren’t going right and I was in a bad mood. Maybe they had heard something about me before ever meeting me, forming their opinion before ever knowing me. How often have I done this?
With all the social media outlets and ways to communicate it is easy to get involved in others personal lives and form opinions about them without ever being involved. We often hear things and make assumptions and write off that person as someone you wouldn’t want to get to know. Now, in the case of Cinderella, the cat really is a nasty, conniving, sneaking character and there really wasn’t that much good in him. But in all reality how often do we make our opinions not offering much grace and mercy for change of someone we really don’t know.
My challenge to you today is think of someone you know but haven’t gotten to know very well. Think about three things that you value about them or want to get to know better and let them know. In order to form a healthy opinion of someone you have to start off by having an open mind. Like Cinderella, she challenged Bruno to seeing the good in the not so nice cat. I challenge you to see the good in someone you might not know very well by allowing you to get to know them for who they really are. Doing something for someone else helps to allow that open-mindedness and will help you make a healthy perception of them. Bring some flowers with your nice words and show them they are worth more than mis-perceptions. Happy Flowering!