I rounded the corner, maneuvered my cart to the side of the crowded aisle, and started looking for prices on bottled water. They were out of my favorite, so I resigned myself to settle for the next best option. After moving the heavy package of water to the bottom of my cart, I stood and caught someone I knew from the corner of my eye. Yes, that was her. The one who did not like me. Time to move.

As she drifted down the aisle toward me with her head turned to scour the shelf, I took advantage of the possibility that she had not seen me. Grabbing the handle of my cart, I spun it around and disappeared around the corner. As I slinked back past the lunchmeat, I paused to double check my list for any other reasons to revisit that side of the store. There were none. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I was in the clear. No dreaded confrontations or awkward conversations today.

The next morning, I thought about that situation as I prepared for some quiet time. I dropped onto my chair at my desk, set my coffee on a shelf beside me, and opened my Bible. Had I overreacted? Was I being dramatic to go so far to avoid interacting with someone who didn’t care for me?

I was one of those tender-hearted souls that was always stunned to find out someone didn’t like me, as if all the humans should like each other all the time. It was hard for me to handle because I was not sure how to navigate interactions with someone that I had no problem with but who didn’t prefer me as their favorite cup of tea. I had grown enough to not let their feelings confuse mine, but I still didn’t want to hang around someone who didn’t want to hang around me. I convinced myself God would like that because it might add me to that peacemaker category he talked about so much.

I flipped the pages until I found where I left off yesterday and continued my reading in Jeramiah. God and Jeramiah were having a little chat. God was listing off the constant and ongoing trouble his people have been up to. One slap in the face after another, the people passed by God for things and people they liked better. This happened over and over for years. Finally, God let Jeramiah know he had no choice but to leave them to their own consequences. He turned his cart around and headed around the corner.

Yup. That makes sense. Me too, God. Me too. No sense in hanging around to be interested in people not interested in you, right?

And then God does something odd.

He comes back.

He started talking about how much he loves them. How he is going to bring promises of good things to them. To them—these folks that didn’t like him enough to give him the time of day. Then he said something huge. He said he was going to rejoice in doing them good.

Did I read that right?

Yes. Yes, I did. Rejoice in doing them good.

I thought about the situation at the store yesterday. What would that have been like, to know that someone wanted nothing to do with me and to still choose to not only do something good for them, but to rejoice in doing it?

I could avoid conflict. I could be polite when they weren’t. I could even hold a door for them and nod. But to rejoice in the chance to do those things and more? That would take courage that I am not even sure I have. This is why I am so thankful he has enough for us both.

When I say I want to live the life he has called me to live, when I say I want to be in the peacemaker category, I must understand that category requires action, not retreat. He never told me to only be chipper with the people who were chipper with me. Look at the way his own people treated Him. And yet, he rejoiced in doing good for them.

Looks like the list of ways in which I am called to be different just grew a little longer.

Lord, help me stand bravely in the face of uncomfortable situations and put on your heart in my interactions with others. To have a heart that rejoices in doing good for others just as you rejoiced for me on the days when I didn’t deserve it.