Loving Those Who Are Hard to Love

I know that person whose name alone raises your blood pressure. The coworker who does everything to bring you down, the relative who only knows how to criticize, the old friendship that turned into rivalry. Loving difficult people isn't about feeling easy affection — it's a choice of will that goes against every natural instinct to strike back.

I never asked you to feel instant affection for those who hurt you. I asked you to bless instead of curse, to do good instead of retaliating with harm. That's not weakness — it's the kind of love that only exists because I loved you first, back when you, too, were in some way hard to love.

If there's someone today who sets you off just by showing up, pray for that person before you react. Not because they deserve it, but because that kind of difficult love looks the most like me.