One thing I am grateful to have been reminded of in the past couple years is the true meaning of Love. We have gotten to a place in this Country where we think it is ok to treat people certain ways based on how they are acting, behaving, and/or treating us. Is that really how life is supposed to be lived? Someone is mean to you, so you are mean back? Someone hurts you, so you hurt them back? Someone lies about you so spread lies back? Is that how we want to live? Constantly letting other people drag us down to behavior we are not proud of, don't want, but suddenly feel justified doing? This is not the way it supposed to be. We are called to love no matter what. Love those that don't deserve it. Love those who are not loving us properly. Heck even the Golden Rule says it clearly "Treat others the way you want to be treated". Notice, that rule does not say "Treat others the way THEY ARE TREATING you."
There are many examples in the Bible that reinforce the principal above. Love your enemy for instance. Love your spouse ALWAYS. It does not say love them only when they are behaving the way they should be, or only when they are loving you and treating you kindly. It says LOVE your spouse. Period. It says honor and respect your parents. It does NOT say, but only if your parents are acting loving and respectful towards you. In fact the Bible in many sections takes it a step further and specifically advises that we are to love and honor and respect IN SPITE of people. In spite of how they are acting or treating us. Imagine if we all started living this way day in and day out. The person that bites your head off in the store, or makes a snarky comment, or cuts you off in traffic. Imagine if we didn't feel the need to get so hostile in return and feel the need to justify or vindicate ourselves. And we just simply forgave and kept on loving. In SPITE of our anger. In SPITE of them.
At the end of the day I look back over my day and ask myself who did I wrong today? Do I need to say sorry to anyone for my behavior today? Do I need to work on something inside of me? Did I allow myself to behave in ways I am not proud of and what can I do to fix it, make it right, say sorry, or prevent it from happening again? I am not perfect which is why daily reflection and prayer and mediation are necessary to stay on track.
Love is the answer.
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