“Grant that we will love Thee with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, even our enemy neighbors.” -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from a prayer following his sermon “Loving Your Enemies,” 3/7/61
How do you react to the spiritual teaching to love your enemies?
Admit it’s hard, and necessary. Either I commit to the first principle or I don’t. (The inherent worth and dignity of every person.) Other people’s actions are their responsibility. My response to them is mine.
If my response is anything other than love, I have work to do. It may take time, it almost always does, but am I working on loving them?
With a LOT of self talk, prayer and reading.