None of us has difficulty loving the people who are always pleasant, smiling and just plain lovable. Unfortunately, my experience has been (and probably yours, too) that the majority of people are like Grumpy Cat, just waiting to pounce on the next thing I say that they can disagree with. But you know what? I am called to love them anyway. Love is a choice, not one where you get to pick and choose who will benefit from your love, but one where you are supposed to choose to love everyone. All of us has at least one difficult person in their lives, the one that you make yourself spend time with, knowing that the best you can hope for is not to get into a verbal sparring match that will destroy our testimony for Jesus. I personally have relatives that cause my blood pressure to rise and my body to exhibit symptoms of high stress whenever I am around them. But rather than avoid them, I put on my armor of God and enter the battlefield, knowing that the words I say need to speak life and love into their hearts that have been hardened.

I am not the judge and jury of their actions, words or even their attitudes. I am their friend, family member and the one that they judge first when they see me start to waiver a little in my faith walk. They are not my encouragers, but they are the ones who need my encouragement. If I cannot love them with the love of Jesus, then I am the one who has failed them. Love is sometimes hard and often challenging, especially if you go into a situation with a preconceived idea of how everything will play out. I have learned through experience to hope for the best but pray as if the worst might happen so I am prepared to give the answer they need to hear. Love is telling the truth and loving the other person when they refuse to hear it. Love is accepting the barbs of rejection and knowing that it isn’t really me that they are rejecting but the Lord. Love is unconditional, not expecting anything but ready to give everything. Love is…you tell me. What is love to you?