Life is not a soap opera

Imagine that you have to write a soap opera.....it has to be very interesting indeed and it has to appeal to every age group. You have to think of a story, a really good one but first you have to introduce the characters in that story. You may have a group of around five and build up a picture of each one and how they interact with each other. Finally you have established a group of people who are thrown together, as a family or they can be working together, on holiday together, or stuck in a dangerous situation. Once your mind has started to work, story lines pop up as you think what they might do in certain circumstances.  You write a story...its a good one and will keep any audience listening. But how do you make sure they come back~? The same five people over and over again  would get very boring so another character has to be added.....and this time its not a good all round bloke...its a nasty one!  There   you have done it....people will want to know how all the good guys react to the one who is out to harm them. 

 In all good stories there is always a baddy...always someone who doesn’t quite fit, who quarrels with the others, and everyone is waiting for them first to be found out and then to get their come uppance.   That’s what soap opera is all about. Its watching the good guys suffer and then waiting for the bad ones to get caught out.

Hopefully real life isn't like that at all....but an element of it exists in almost every group..

We can't all like every other person we come into contact with...we are made to be different from each other as a way of ensuring our survival....different skills , different ideas, different mind sets... so many different genes. 

We as Christians are tolerant of each other....in theory." Love one another as I have loved you." The extra commandment give to us by Jesus. We keep His other request to remember Him every time we take communion as an enactment of the last supper...but loving everyone else is the hard one. 

Our lives are not soap operas....we don't have to introduce a divisive element . But if one crops up then how we tackle it is important...to turn the other cheek is hard....but it is the only Christian way  to deal with division and distrust. 

To love each other, is to keep another commandment from God. We can but try!