Gospel of Matthew 5:38-42
Jesus said to his
disciples: “You have heard
that it was said, You shall love your
neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you,
love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, that you may be
children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his
sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to
fall on the just and the unjust.
The concept of loving your enemies is difficult for most of us to swallow. Every time I read this passage I'm reminded of a girl at the Baptist
daycare center who used to bully me in the 5th and 6th grade. She daily told me how ugly I was. One day she announced to everyone: "Four Eyes needs to wear a training bra! Look at her flapping around. Haha!" I was horrified that growing into womanhood was made into an embarrassing spectacle. I felt ashamed of my looks, and felt like everybody thought I was a loser! I couldn't get the girl to leave me alone. She showed such vileness and hate towards me that the idea of ever loving her as a child of God never crossed my mind. All I ever thought about was how to survive after-school. Would I ever be rid of this bully??
daycare center who used to bully me in the 5th and 6th grade. She daily told me how ugly I was. One day she announced to everyone: "Four Eyes needs to wear a training bra! Look at her flapping around. Haha!" I was horrified that growing into womanhood was made into an embarrassing spectacle. I felt ashamed of my looks, and felt like everybody thought I was a loser! I couldn't get the girl to leave me alone. She showed such vileness and hate towards me that the idea of ever loving her as a child of God never crossed my mind. All I ever thought about was how to survive after-school. Would I ever be rid of this bully??
Just the other day my mom asked me what ever happened to the bully. The last time I ran into her was summer of my senior year of high school. As I sat in my Oldsmobile idling at a stop light, I noticed Miss Bully on the other side of the street driving her mother's old tan Volkswagon Rabbit. She wore very thick glasses, so thick that her eyes magnified 3 fold. All those years that horrid girl made fun of me for wearing glasses and here she was wearing ones even thicker and bigger than mine! I couldn't help but smile. She was no better than me. That brought a little bit of relief...
Now I realize after years of tolerating bullies, and doing much soul searching, that loving your enemies is the best thing to do. Allow God to judge and punish them as He sees fit. We feel much better inside when we can love instead of hate. I admit I don't hate the bully. I feel sorry for her in a compassionate way. Hopefully she grew up and left her bullying ways. If not, well, the Lord is watching and guiding her.
Loving your enemies...Our enemies can include so-called friends who harass us, coworkers who backstab us, corporations who use us for profit, environmental changes that sicken us, and even Media who slander us. How can we love such people and situations? It takes trust in God. It takes vigilant prayer. It takes keeping the high road, not allowing negativity and evil to knock us down into fits of helplessness.
“To love with understanding and without understanding. To love blindly, and to folly. To see only what is loveable. To think only of these things. To see the best in everyone around, their virtues rather than their faults. To see Christ in them!” -Dorothy Day
-J.
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