Saturday 27 July 2019

How to avoid someone ... and fail.


I know that Christians should love, (and like), everyone, including their enemies. But is that really possible?

I am sure there were people around Jesus who were really obnoxious and a pain in the neck working their way downwards. Did He love them? Did He like them? Or did He just tolerate them as one of God's creatures put on earth to teach us to love?

There was this guy at work called Gerard whom I did not like. There was nothing specifically wrong with him. I just did not like him. Maybe it was me ... maybe it was the lack of chemistry between us ... maybe it was something else. But for some reason, I did not like him.

Put another way. If he was a woman I would not marry him. I would not be intimate with him. I would not even date him.

He ... or she ... would be there and that's that. It's like having a chair around. You wouldn't date a chair would you? Unless you were weird that is!

Do you remember Neil Diamond speaking to himself and not even the chair heard him? Well, that was weird. But I digress.

For some reason I did not like Gerard.

Eventually, I decided to change jobs and applied for a post at another firm. I attended the interview and as I entered the room there was Gerard waiting to interview me.

It turned out he was a Human Resources Consultant and in his free time he worked for other firms to help them recruit staff. It was all above board and our employers knew about it.

He asked me why I wanted to leave my present employer. I said that I admired him immensely and wanted to follow in his footsteps and expand my horizons and expertise.

I then went to confession the same day.

I did not get the job.

Weeks later I attended an old friend's wedding in a city miles away. You guessed it. Gerard was the best man. What are the odds that we both knew the bridegroom?

About three months after that I went to London to celebrate the baptism of the daughter of yet another friend of ours. Dash it all ... Gerard was one of the God-parents.

I had to go to hospital for an embarrassing check up. They wanted to know my sense of humour was intact. Gerard was in the waiting room too. I tried to deflate the situation by telling him I'll tell no one he was there!

Often, I would meet him in town in the shops, in a restaurant or coffee bar, or in the street by accident. It was as if he was my shadow. Perhaps he was stalking me, even though I would sometimes enter a place and he was already there. If he saw me, I'd nod and say Hello; otherwise I would leave hurriedly before he noticed me.

Do you think God put him in my life for a purpose? Or did He put me in his life for a purpose?

We continued to work together in the same firm for a while. We never became friends. We just accepted each other.

He was a chair to me. I wonder what I was to him.

22 comments:

  1. That is so weird!

    I love your last line. He was a chair to me. I wonder what I was too him.

    Also, gotta say, that wallpaper is fabulous!

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    1. Aha ... so I was only wallpaper to him? Something in the background of his life to be ignored? I'll give him a piece of my mind next time I meet him. Thank you for letting me see the light, Sandi. I thought I was more important than wallpaper.

      God bless you.

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  2. I agree; great closing line. (I loved that song!)
    Even when there's no apparent reason, I believe in trusting our own intuitions.

    PS - "A pain in the neck working their way down." Hahahaha!

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    1. As in most of my humourous stories, Mevely, I try to make my readers think about the subject in question.

      Why is it for some reason we do not "like" certain people? Is it un-Christian to feel this way? Why did God make us with this mechanism that makes us dislike certain people? How then can we "love" every one including our enemies?

      I'm so glad you enjoyed my story and my humour. Thanx Mevely.

      God bless.

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  3. I once had a thing for a Lazy Boy, but it was just a phase.

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    1. I'll admit they are a great piece of furniture. The thing is; can you really just buy one? Should it not be two?

      God bless you, JoeH.

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  4. You were probably a chair to him as well - just an uncomfortable chair.

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    1. Great point, Chris. Are we just background furniture to each other? Just to be used and then discarded?

      I feel a poem coming on. Better wake up and have a Guinness.

      It's great to see you visiting again, Chris. Thanx.

      God bless.

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  5. I like that analogy. I have known lots of chairs in my lifetime.

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    1. They come in all shapes and sizes.

      God bless, Terri.

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  6. I believe that God 'allows' us to have these 'irritating' people in our lives, for a reason. They ARE the "iron that sharpens iron"; helping us to grow in 'love' and 'virtue' ... but, most times, it takes us quite a while to get there!

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    1. Yes ... just like mosquitoes and wasps. Irritating people are good for us ... not ... !!! ... ???

      God bless you, Suzanne.

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  7. Your last line is the best, Victor! And who knows what reason God has to allow your lives to intersect as much as they do. Maybe it is to remind you that He loves everyone, even a chair like Gerard.
    Blessings!

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    1. I seem to have a lot of furniture in my life, Martha. Maybe God wants me to furnish a cinema, or a theatre perhaps. These are people that I don't dislike as such; but I just about tolerate them. I am sure they are quite nice in their boring little way.

      God bless you and yours, Martha.

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  8. If Gerard was the chair than you may have been the footstool to him Victor.
    The fact that you met so many times and never became friends tells me that neither of you cared much for the other one.
    Maybe God was just having a bit of fun with you both. But the important thought here is that God cares for both of you.

    God's Blessings ✝

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    1. That's the point I am making, Jan. Why does God create so many boring people? Do you think Gerard found me boring? Just an insignificant footstool?

      God bless you.

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  9. Being uncomfortable with someone offers a learning opportunity. I have a few people in my life that I can't stand being around but when I am, I try to be nice but it is hard. I believe these people are in our life because we have a lesson to learn and I sometimes wonder what that lesson is. :)

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    1. Exactly Bill. Exactly. There are people in my life that I struggle to be nice to as well. And the lesson I have learnt is to avoid them as much as possible. Now that's not very Christian; is it?

      God bless, my friend.

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  10. Interesting. I don't believe in coincidences so I do believe God had some kind of plan!
    There was a lady at our church that I just didn't like. I asked God to give me a better attitude toward her and though we are not friends, I can sit and talk to her now.

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    1. You are right, Happyone. I believe God has a plan when He brings someone new into our lives.

      God bless.

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  11. There are no coincidences like that. all those events were set up. God wanted to make you humble.

    Weather here is stinkin' hot (as my mom used to say). Is it still the same there?

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    1. Me? Humble? It is so hard to be humble when I am perfect in every way.

      Weather here has cooled down a little with some rain at times. Hope it improves where you are.

      God bless. Susan.

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