Try (also) liking the people you love….

by Rod Smith

Sometimes liking (enjoying, being pleased to see) someone is even more powerful than loving someone. I’ve met a few men and women who, in trying to sound magnanimous or even holy who have declared: “I really love my son (or my husband, daughter, in-laws, pastor) but I just don’t like him (her, them) right now.”

Great! Thanks. What does one do when one is on the receiving end of such a “compliment”?

If you do not like a particular person whom you also confess to love, I’d suggest you have some homework to complete.

What is it about you that you cannot reconcile these two distinctly different responses (love and dislike) within you, when it comes to the very same person?

Of course, I understand that people whom we love can and will do some detestable things and sometimes must be censured for their objectionable behavior. But is confessed dislike the helpful response?

My challenge is, and I direct it as much to myself as I do to readers: work on yourself to the place where you like and also love the very same people.

2 Comments to “Try (also) liking the people you love….”

  1. There is a flip side to this situation, which is where we can’t bring ourselves to admit that we hate someone whom we also love. Schnarch deals with this in Chapter 11 of PM I think.


    2amsomewhere

  2. Rod,
    You are correct, the answer lies within us. We must understand what we are doing that limits our love that we would attempt to distinguish between like and love. It is not seperate, this is a cop out for those who say this type of thing. They are letting themselves off the hook by saying this.

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