"Pray for your enemies..."

One of the most remembered - and perhaps most controversial - sayings of Jesus was to "love your enemies, and pray for those who hurt you." While we may hear these words from time to time and wonder about them, sometimes, often we do not put them into practice.

Maybe there is someone in your life who is causing you a lot of grief. "Someone" may be your spouse, a co-worker, your partner, a child, a neighbor. Let's call this person your "enemy" for the moment, since there are lots of ways to define "enemy." How do you usually handle the "someone" who is causing you grief? Most of us find someone who will listen to us complain; or we worry about that person, playing over conversations with them in our head, over and over again; maybe we dramatize them as evil or more having more power to hurt us than they actually have; maybe we look for people who will take our side and at the same time side against the other person. There are other ways we handle an "enemy," the usual ways. You know what they are.

There is another approach. That approach is to pray for your enemies. That's right. Pray for the one who has hurt you. Pray for them to heal yourself! Pray for their best interests. Pray for them to receive what they need. Pray for the best to come to them. Simply see them bathed in Love's Light. Pray for your enemies.

Make this your spiritual practice. See what happens. In my own life, I have experienced dramatic changes in my relationship to someone who has been a thorn in my side, when I have prayed for them.

I have to believe that the world would be a safer, more sane place if we all prayed for our enemies. Who knows what could happen?
Warmly,
meb