I
couldn't believe this young person I love so much actually chose to
wear the clothes he was wearing. Baggy pants, a haircut that looked
like the barber changed his mind halfway through the job of cutting it,
and an earring that hung two inches below his earlobe. "This is a cool outfit," he said to me.
Cool was not the word I would have chosen to describe it.
His
dog still loved him just as much as always and so did I, but it was
clear to me that personal tastes in clothing and other things can
certainly differ among people who deeply love one another.
Help
me to remember that, dear God. Help me to remember that it is our love
for one another that binds us together not our similar tastes in music,
food, clothing or even the friends we choose to feel close to. Keep me
from eroding other people's love for me by my insistence on their
conforming to my tastes. Help me to trust more fully that it is our
love and positive regard for one another that should be relished and
cherished not our fickle preferences for fashion.
Help me to be
more like that faithful old dog who never looks at a person's haircut
at all but only sees the person who's wearing it.
Love,
Larry.
larry@rotb.org 
