Do you treat your peers and coworkers as people loved by God?

One of my least favorite questions Sarah and I discuss when we meet is "Do you treat your peers and coworkers as people loved by God?". There are times the "peers" part is difficult for me, but right now, it's the coworkers part I don't like admitting to.

I've been working on a special project for the past 6 months or so. First it was my project. Then the boss I worked for was moved to another company and the person who inherited ownership of the project decided one of his managers needed to run it. Then that manager left and the project owner decided to assign another of his managers to the project. Then that manager left and suddenly it's my project again. at this point, I had only about 8 weeks to get it all done. Each time someone else took over, we started over again - to do things their way - and we lost a lot of time. I explain all this in an effort to help you understand just a small bit of the frustration I have toward the whole thing at this point. There's A LOT more too much frustration, but this is a public blog and not the appropriate place to vent.

In order to obtain our project objectives. Each team representative has had to give a little for the greater good. Some teams have been very ready to compromise within reason and make the project a success. Where other teams are concerned, it's been a battle. One I've repeatedly lost. We finished our project Friday in some ways it was a success we accomplished our main objective - but that's the only one - we did not accomplish all the project objectives. I tried, I really did, but there was opposition at every corner. It's very difficult to try to do your best and achieve goals for the greater good only to have key stakeholders complain to your boss that you're not considering them, making life more difficult for them, being rude and combative, etc. Are you painting the picture in your mind? Getting an idea of why this is not a question I enjoy discussing at this point?

I had a conversation with my boss a couple weeks ago. What's in store for me next, now that this project is finished? I found out that my next project is going to be completing the objectives I didn't achieve in this recent project. All those battles that I lost, all the people that hate me - yep, I get to do it all over again. On the plus side, I fell like I'll have better backing to get things done this time, but am I ready for another round of this emotional roller coaster?

I'm getting to a point, I promise. :) So, what does it look like to treat your coworkers as people loved by God? I had to confess to Sarah the last time we met that I honestly don't think I know. This week I really tired. I took Sarah's suggestion and reminded myself "My coworkers are people loved by God and I need to show His love to them." when I got frustrated. In my mind, I did a great job of being kind and patient and listening and addressing their concerns. Then again, the last time I thought that, my manager got complaints. I don't want to be one of those cold-hearted people who doesn't care what others think about them, but at the same time I know I can't be everyone's best friend all the time. But how do I show God's love to people that HATE me? Especially the ones who like to offer backhanded complements - I can't stand that - and there's a human part of me that wants to respond in turn.

This is still an area of struggle for me. Don't get me wrong, I work with some people I like very much, but they're not the ones standing in the way of me achieving the goals I've been given. When you think about it, please pray that I will learn how to treat my coworkers as people loved by God. Also, if any of you ever see me interacting with them, please provide feedback. Thanks!

How do you treat your coworkers as people loved by God?