No preferred seat next to God.

The ability to find God in another is not a matter of just liking another. It takes spiritual strength and energy which must be developed. It is easy to love someone you like, but it is very difficult to find God in one who has brought you pain, be that physical pain or emotional anguish. It is equally difficult to see God in perfect strangers. You react to their appearance, their behavior, what they say, but none of that is the essence of God.

As an experiment when the opportunity presents itself, view a stranger, even at a distance, and concentrate on the goodness which is contained within. It may last only a brief moment, but you will experience the feeling of closeness to that person more intensely than what you experience with many whom you know personally. You will sense a kinship with that soul. If you observe a stranger whose actions are opposed to your taste, ignore the actions and concentrate on the true, unchangeable fact that that individual is as much God as you are. Consider that person equal to you and divine as you are divine. No one has a preferred seat next to God. All are equally important. All have the potential to express divinity in their lives.