“Don’t think so much about who is for or against you, rather give all your care, that God be with you in everything you do.” (Thomas à Kempis)
Time and again, spiritual teachers remind us that we shouldn’t concern ourselves so much with other people—especially with thinking about their attitudes toward us. Otherwise, we very easily fall into all kinds of assumptions and are not immune to lending an ear to speculation or even rumors. In this way, they find their way into us.
Thomas à Kempis expresses a similar idea in more general terms: “We should enjoy much peace if we did not concern ourselves with what others say and do, for these are no concern of ours.”
Conversely, we can never focus enough on our heavenly Father by directing our hearts and thoughts toward Him and trying to perceive His presence. This will help us curb our curiosity about others and bring order to our thoughts. Then we will notice right from the start when we are preoccupying ourselves too much with other people in an unnecessary and sometimes harmful way. These people then take up too much space in our lives—though this does not apply to those entrusted to our care.
Still, the spiritual teacher’s counsel may help us here as well. Let us try to understand the people who enter and have entered our lives from God’s perspective. Whether they are for or against us should not trouble us. We entrust them to God’s heart, knowing that He accompanies us in all situations. Even with those people directly entrusted to us, God’s wisdom guides us in serving them. What we then put into practice with our will should come from this wisdom. In this way, we remain focused on the Lord!