Scripture: Colossians 3:12-19

Thoughts:   “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”  (v. 16)
 
The relatively new hymn “Help Us Accept Each Other” has these great lines:
                             “To learn to care for others –
                             For all, not just for some –
                             To love them as we find them,
                             Or as they may become.”
 
What happened to the young man with curly hair who brought roses to his wife for James Monroe’s birthday and praised her tuna fish casserole?
 
What happened to the slim young woman who put love notes and homemade cookies in her husband’s lunch?
 
They became older and grayer and heavier and – as the hymn says, “…cumbered with a load of care.”  The money once used for roses pays for braces and college tuition.  The love notes give way to helping a teen-ager through The Scarlett Letter.  By tacit agreement, the tuna fish casseroles disappear.
 
Discussion:   When you meet someone, what characteristic has you at hello?
 
Activity:   Listen carefully to a friend’s answer to “How was your day?”