The Practice of Love

In my last post I left a postscript about discussing how to love others in your own family. You might think that love comes naturally within a family, but I think we have all at some time seen that is not always the case. I think love needs to be constantly practiced, not where it becomes rote and then has no meaning, but used liberally in our lives. And in all situations, we should error on the side of love.

He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:29

I don't allow my kids to use the word hate-at all. It is just not a word I want them to have come out of their mouths easily. I especially tell them when it comes to their siblings, they are not allowed to say"I hate so and so". And I also say you don't have to even like them all the time, but they need to love them. I tell them they can dislike, even strongly dislike what he or she said/did to them-but they are not allowed to hate them, only love them. I am trying to teach them to tell the difference between the actions of a person from the person themselves. And if a person does/says something to them, they can dislike the action, but they still need to love that person. I always tell them to think about how it would make them feel to have someone say that they hate them- to always try to put themselves in their other person's shoes.

Next week I will continue the theme of love with the the topic of self love.