1 Peter 3:8-5

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ~ 1 Peter 3:9

This verse is particularly convicting for me. As humans we can be crazy annoying and difficult, which makes it hard for others to be around us or for us to be around them. It's so easy to want to hurt when we've been hurt. That's the "natural" thing to do. I guess that's why it's so important to have God's word planted in our minds so when we are tempted to react quickly in our natural way His Spirit can remind us of what we know to be true from God's word.

It reminds me of times I've caught Mary being mean to her brothers and she will say, "but they were mean to me! I guess that's the way they want to be treated so I'm going to be mean back!" She is turning the golden rule from, "do to others as you would have them do to you," to, "do to others as they do to you." Big mistake kiddo and not going to work on me. Let's not make the same childish mistake, but bless!