All that time I could have been falling in love…

In my defense, I didn’t know I would like Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

I always seemed to hear the beginning  “turn around”part. Weird. If I recognized it while scanning my radio stations, I would hurriedly move along to the next station preset. Recently, I was zoning out while the radio was on, and I heard more of the song and I thought to myself, “I like this song!”

I’m actually listening to this while I write this, because it’s kind of been on repeat on my Spotify playlist.

Usually I don’t change my mind about songs. But in this case, I’m glad I did.

Now there is light in my life…

I’ve done that with people too.

I remember a couple that gave a testimony in church. As the testimony rambled, I thought to myself, “I’ll probably want to stay away from this couple.”

When we left that church and I moved away from home, that was the couple that I missed the most. Somehow, they had wormed their way into my affections (drat them!). They were interesting, well-informed people, and I enjoyed our conversations…which never rambled.

I can point to other instances, like my roommate senior year whom I was sure would be too weird for me. Best room ever!

I could mention the couple from church whose hospitality I rebuffed at first until stepping into a friendship that helped shape my views on hospitality and opened my heart to be willing to open my home.

I could speak of the newcomer to my church whom I eyed warily over a Sunday dinner doubting that we would have anything in common. By the time I moved away from that church, we were kindred spirits.

While first impressions are important, it is the mark of a humble and long-suffering person to give another chance to someone who they may not initially like.

A shade of character…

In Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, the heroine Elizabeth Bennet mocks the hero, Mr. Darcy, for being perfect since he holds others to a high, nearly impossible standard. He answers by describing his faults.

“I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. … My good opinion once lost is lost for ever.”

“That is a failing indeed!” — cried Elizabeth. “Implacable resentment is a shade in a character. But you have chosen your fault well. — I really cannot laugh at it; you are safe from me.”

The joke is on him considering that he originally thinks little of Elizabeth and they end up getting married, so maybe his good opinion really isn’t lost forever.

Don’t let pride or prejudice keep you from giving someone a second chance. Maybe you won’t become best friends. Maybe you were right that they aren’t your type of people. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll meet a kindred spirit, a sister from another mister/brother from another mother. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll totally eclipse your heart.