I have a love/hate relationship with the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. If you don’t know, these amazing books have been turned into movies (the sixth of the series premieres tonight on the Hallmark channel).
I love both the books and the movies. They give me the warm fuzzies. Seriously.
But I hate them, too. They show me how awful I am. They bring to my attention that I’m a selfish and mean person. And I am.
That was also brought to my attention by two people this week. Two.
I’m mean.
That means I’m not a nice person.
And that’s pretty crappy considering how I’m supposed to be following Jesus.
Why can’t I be more like him? Why can’t I treat people the way they should be?
1. Everyone is selfish and mean, at least some of the time. If they weren’t the only accomplishments they’d have made would be for everyone else.
2a. I have no idea how liking a series of books (haven’t read them and the Hallmark Channel isn’t even close to being on my most watched list) makes you a bad person. There are atheists who like CS Lewis books, but that doesn’t make them Christians. A good book is a good book (no pun intended).
2b. Two people called you mean? Well, I say you’re not. That cancels one of those out. Besides, people are more likely to call you mean, than nice. We rarely get any recognition for being a nice person. If I went by the term I’d heard the most often, I’d have to think that I’m a body cavity that’s not mentioned in polite conversation.
I didn’t mean that liking the books makes me a bad person. I only meant that reading about the good people in the books makes me realize how not good I am.
Berlzebub’s right with her first point. You’re no different than all the rest of us. You’re just not as afraid of the social implications as some.
Have you ever met those people who are too nice and you just know it’s fake? Yeah… I’m glad you’re not that.
Also, keep in mind that you don’t have to be “nice.” Jesus didn’t focus on being “nice.” He focused on being loving, which you are learning, more and more, to be.
Don’t worry ’bout it!
And reading the Harry Potter series made me realize I’m a muggle.
Three words and a contraction can summmarize… So what, it’s fiction.
I think part of the point of Christianity is supposed to be realising that humans are not by nature very nice people and it’s something that we need to work really hard on.
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