Loving All

I have been doing some soul searching. As a Christian I am called to love everyone from the easy to like to the unlovable. I encounter both most days at my job. I work with the public and believe me, some are really a royal pain. We have the chronic complainers, the ones you simply cannot please. The unpleasant odors of the homeless who will not or cannot bathe. The loud and obnoxious. The insolent teens. The argumentative and the yellers. I am supposed to love them the way God does, but my buttons can only be pushed so many times and then I lose the love that I should have for those who are made in God's image no matter how they appear or present themselves. It's so easy to love with God's love the pleasant people who greet me kindly. But the pushy are a challenge and frankly, all too often I fail.

Everyday on my way to work, I pray for those I will encounter. I pray for the strength I need to love all I will see. If I fail, it's not because God failed me. He loves unconditionally, and he loves me even when I don't measure up. For that I am grateful. It reminds me that I can be unlovable, too; yet I am loved. Next Monday when I get back to work, I will once again pray and learn to love as I ought: God's way. I have faith that by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will, little by little, learn to love those who are difficult, to pray for them, to be kind to them no matter how they treat me. God will give me what I need to accomplish this if I draw on his love. It's there. I just need to tap into it.

The day will come when I will always love unconditionally because I am my Father’s daughter and have inherited his character—it’s just not completely evident yet. Until then, I will continue to press forward to grasp what is his nature, the all consuming love that he pours out. May it flow through me to all I encounter. As scripture says, I love because he first loved me. Let this be so in my life today and all days.