Love the hard ones...

"Jesus said to his disciples: 'To you who hear I say, love your enemies...'"

Luke 6:27

 

One time, when I was deep in prayer at the Hermitage, I prayed to Jesus that my heart was bursting with love for him and I wanted to show him that love.  Jesus told me to "Love others."  The way for me to show my love for Jesus is to love others.  OK, so I pressed further and said, "Even the hard ones?"  Jesus responded, "Especially the hard ones!"  And Jesus is telling the disciples the exact same thing in today's Gospel:  Love the hard ones.  Who are the "hard ones?" Well, people are hard to love when they don't love us back.  They are hard ones to love.  And Jesus asks us to love them especially.  There are people we encounter every day who don't love us, understand us, maybe even really dislike us.  And Jesus says, "It's OK.  I love you enough for you to share with those who may not love you."  Today, let's remember that Jesus wants us to love the hard ones.  Whoever they may be.  And we can do that, because Jesus loves us first.  Love, heidi