Spiritual Sisters of the Internet Cafe- spiritualsisters.com

For Love of the Enemy

When God says we must forgive and we must love our enemy, he's not setting an easy task in front of us. When God says, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." --1 John 4:20 (NIV), I know I must work through my issues of dislike, distrust, and hate. And I cannot settle for a superficial pretense to forgive and love, I must get there--somehow, I must be at peace with this hurt.

Can I do this? Can I really be at peace with the person who thwarted my efforts to....whatever? Can I look a person in the eye and not feel bitterness after I know they have purposefully lied about me? cheated me? used me? unleashed their own hatreds on me or hurt someone I love? As long as I look at it in this light, no, I cannot, I am stuck in my own stuff. I have to attack it from the opposite direction for who can say there was not something in me that made them turn against me or a hurt unrelated to me that has sprayed its venom over me, snaring me in a net I did not create.

The longer I work on acceptance, the easier it becomes to avoid building those bitter tasting resentments over current situations. The hardest ones are the ones from the distant past where the hurt had gained a strong and long lasting hold on me. Those bad feelings must go as well. Even if the object of my anguish is no longer living, I must make peace within me.

Here's a thought to dwell upon when presented with an unsettling situation in order to keep resentments from attaching themselves to your spirit:

"If you find it difficult to love the human in someone, then love the divine in him or her. The divine in that person is God. God exists in that person just as God exists in you. To love God is extremely easy because God is divine and perfect. Each time you look at an individual, if you can consciously become aware of God’s existence in him or her, then you will not be disturbed by his or her imperfections or limitations". --Sri Chinmoy

May God's merciful grace fall upon all of us as we strive to forgive and to love.

Jane Mullikin
More Articles by Jane
Spirit - Finding Hope in a World of Uncertainty