Enemies! What about loving when we have enemies?? This is actually where any real loving from us would make a great difference. One of my friends wrote this...
I can be the biggest hypocrite sometimes. I'm often not very good at practicing what I preach. It's not that I want to be hypocritical, or that I purpose to be, but it's more like I don't always think before I act, or that the log in my eye often blinds me temporarily. The good thing is though, that God is so forgiving and patient with me, and He's really good about showing me when I'm messing up, and reminding me once again that His laws are ultimately for my own benefit. Take for example my current situation. About a month ago some new neighbors moved in downstairs from my apartment. For the past two years that I've lived here, I've enjoyed quiet and peace from all of my very respectful neighbors. These new folks changed all of that, however. Evidently they seem to believe that all of their other neighbors should appreciate their taste in music and so they've decided that they should play it at full volume for all to enjoy. Once I realized that there was no earthquake when my whole apartment shook from the loud bass, let's just say that my feelings for my new neighbors were not exactly loving. After calling the office for many days in a row to register my complaints (to no avail), I resorted to banging on the floor with my broom handle and even to turning my own audio devices up loud enough to drown theirs out. So much for loving my neighbors, huh? Since none of those methods worked to cause them to cease disturbing my peace, I began to plan my next actions. Confronting them did not seen like a good idea as they had already defied the several warnings they had gotten from management, and I certainly did not want an altercation. So, as I was pondering my next move, I got that all too familiar tap on my heart. How about loving them instead of fighting them? Hmmm... well that would require allowing them to continue with their actions, giving them my other cheek to slap, so to speak. But then again, if I truly desired to practice what I preach, it would be the right thing to do. But how do I love a neighbor who is so disrespectful to their neighbors? I began by changing my pre-concieved thoughts about them. Instead of just immediately assuming that they were being spiteful, I began considering that maybe they are hard of hearing, or perhaps their music is healing some hurt or trauma that they've experienced. The truth is, that it really didn't matter what thir motives were, even if they were malicious. Their actions don't give me any excuse to disobey the call to love my neighbors. And so, my calls to the office stopped, my pounding on the floor stopped, playing my audio at a high volume stopped. And you know what else stopped? No, not their music, unfortunately. But my anger stopped, my annoyance stopped, my anxiety stopped, my desire to hurt them stopped. Yes, they still crank up the noise daily, but love has drowned it out. It's actually becoming more like white noise to me now. I'm learning to be at peace with it, and I can honestly say that it is entirely possible to love people who are not always easy to love. Anyone who knows and loves me can surely attest to that. Although it may seem difficult, if not impossible to obey the command to love our neighbors unconditionally, when we are willing to do so, He gives us the grace and the power to do it. God is cool like that! Love is always the right response to anything and everything. Hopefully I'll get better at it. Some of us are very slow learners.
