Loving Those Who Are Not Easy to Love

Back on the beginning of this month, I promised myself to try to post every night on the topics of either loving or giving, to fit the season. Tonight I'm not sure what to write.

I've posted a lot already about the giving. Maybe I should focus a little on the loving.

It is so easy to love our friends. It is fairly easy to love our relatives - usually. It is harder to love those who irritate us or who definitely do not like us. Is it really possible for one human to love another human who is not lovable? We all know that Jesus could do that. We know that Mary and Joseph did. But we are normal mortals, not saints.

Loving someone who is not lovable does not need to mean that we invite them in for dinner, or go to a theater with them. I think it means loving them in a spiritual way.

For me, that means that even if I cannot show that love in tangible ways, I can at least pray for that person. Doing that often enough might have an effect. It can affect the person, possibly, with the grace to be easier to love. Or, it can affect me in helping me to avoid criticizing that person.

Lord Jesus, I will need help in this area but I am willing to try. I will pray as often as I remember to do so, for help in loving those I find hardest to love.