Before the movie "Finding Nemo", came out Steve Jobs the founder of the Apple Computer company spent millions of dollars promoting it. Before a major push on merchandise Nike will sign a multi- million dollar contract with some sports star. Sometime soon you will see a major player in the clothing industry hire a celebrity to promote their product before the holiday rush. These companies think they have it figured out. How do they attract you to the product or service they are selling? The packaging!!

Millions of dollars are spent on researching and packaging many products and services even before they hit the shelves. If they can entice you enough, then they have a better chance to hook you into owning it. Many of us get the product home and when we open it up and it doesn't match the expectations the outside of the box conveyed to us. Then in a short period of time we lose our interest become disappointed and put it on a shelf only to go try and find another to fore fill our desires.

Let's say you have a child and they disobey you. Do you put them on a shelf and go have another or borrow one from the neighbor. No. You still value them, accept them and love them. You accept them in spite of their behavior and actions at the time. But why don't we take that same type of thinking with adults we know? It doesn't matter; friends, dating or married many times we love the other person because of what they originally brought to the relationship (the packaging, the hype). However, once we get to know that person we realize that they have some things that don't line up with our expectations of them or remind us of a past relationship that went sour. They don't fit in our packaged box anymore. We even try to mold them to fit, and when they don't we put them on an emotional shelf with an expiration date. In the beginning we loved to be around the other person more and were attracted to them because of who there were not in spite of who they are.

Jesus Christ is a great example to follow. Did Jesus die for us and loves us because of who we are? No! He died for us and continues to love us in spite of who we are. Even though we may disobey him or put him second best he still loves us. Even though at times we do not live up to his expectations, he realizes each one of us has things in our lives we could be better at. He knows we may continue to sin (Romans: 3:23) but he's not going to put us up on a shelf and find another one to love. He will continue to nuture, love and lead us closer to him. He sticks with us no matter what that is true love.

Let's all love our friends and close companions not because of what they bring to the table of life or what they can do for us, but love them in spite of their areas that don't line up with our expectations. Don't take a chance and lose a close friend, or even mate because they didn't fit into your expectation box. Accept them, value them, and Love them in spite of it all, you may just find a diamond in the ruff. Jesus did!