Be kind to others

Earlier this week my wife and I got into a spat. I know during our 20 years of marriage imagine us having a disagreement? It was nothing really, compared to the humdingers we had during the first 2 years when we were still getting the bugs out of the system. (computer term) We were still speaking to each other just not in the sugary sweet tones that are usually in our conversations.

We went to bed and she promptly rolled on her side with her back to me. I characteristically rolled my eyes and pulled out my recent issue of Guideposts magazine as I am wont to do. I read a story about a twin sister who died instantly from a stroke. The living twin was obviously going through a hard time. Both sisters were married with children and had planned a vacation at a beach where the women had spent their Summers growing up only this time the husbands and children would all be together. Now the 2 families were on the vacation dealing with one of them not being there.

With tears in my eyes, I turned my head and said, "honey, I love you." All I could think about was what if both of us went to sleep that night and only one of us woke up the next morning? How would the living person feel that the last words we spoke to each other were spoken out of irritation?

In Paul's 1st letter to the Corinthian's he tells us three things remain. Faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is love. I'm not sure, but I believe there is also an East Asian proverb that says, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger." Wise words. Sage advice. I believe the foundation of the Christian faith is love. I believe when those of us are standing at the judgement seat of God we will be most seriously judged on how we treated others during our lives. Not just our friends and loved ones, but our enemies as well.

Loving our enemies is probably hardest to do. It's tough to love suicide bombers, child molesters and rapists, but I believe there is a great difference in loving a person but not loving a behavior. I'm not perfect, if I see or hear about someone being violated I'm going to get angry and if I'm able would probably take action to stop it occurring. But one of my daily prayers is, "Lord, help me to love others."

I love you,