The people who are the hardest to love may need our friendship and love the most. The acquaintance who has the prickly personality may need us to be available. When they are reluctant to ask for help, can we offer it? When loving a person is the hardest thing to do, we need God's help. I know I cannot love well unless God gives me the strength, the words, and the compassion.
Some folks are just easy to love. Our conversations are filled with compassion, laughter, and grace. We understand their struggles, their pain, and their quirky ways. They offer grace and love to us. We extend love.
Some folks are challenging, opinionated, irrational, mean-spirited, ... They may be addicted, scarred by abuse, lonely, and angry. Our time is precious. Why spend time with people who make life difficult?
"Find a way to love difficult people more and you'll be living the life Jesus talked about. Go find someone you've been avoiding and give away some extravagant love to them. You'll learn more about God, your neighbor, your enemies, and your faith. Find someone you think is wrong, someone you disagree with, someone who isn't like you at all, and decide to love that person the way you want Jesus to love you.
We need to love everybody, always.
Jesus never said doing these things would be easy. He just said it would work." This quote is from Bob Goff's book, Everybody Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People
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