“I remember one of my seminary professors saying people who were able to appreciate others-who looked for what was good and healthy and kind-were about as close as you could get to God-to the eternal good.  And those people who were always looking for what was bad about themselves and others were really on the side of evil. ‘That’s what evil wants,’ he would say, ‘Evil wants us to feel so terrible about who we are and who we know, that we’ll look with condemning eyes on anybody who happens to be with us at the moment.’  I encourage you to look for the good where you are and embrace it.

Whereas traditional friendship (philia) is preferential (to have a friend is to prefer one type of person over another), Christian friendship (agape) is universal, unconditional, and open to all.  Likewise, while the golden rule-“Love your neighbor as yourself”-is a good formula for living a moral life, Christ goes further by challenging us to “Love one another as I have loved you.”

-Paraclete Book of Hospitality