In Alzheimer's, my mom had a cute habit of reverting to pithy sayings learned long ago in order to comment upon whatever situation she was facing. One of her oft-used axioms was, "It ain't easy, Breezy."
She used this observation to state her feelings about everything from being asked to go for a daily walk to putting up with my sometimes inept efforts to help her groom.
I thought of this saying today as I pondered the difficulty of praying for those who have hurt us. Jesus clearly states that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Vengeance belongs to the Lord* and our job goes beyond just staying silent and bearing with the upset we feel in response to being poorly treated (or, as Mom would have said, "Put up and shut up").
The Lord asks us to love. Loving requires more than just enduring mistreatment without telling others what we really think. In fact, love might require us to risk further mistreatment by speaking the truth (Ephesians 4:15).
In our own strength, we clearly are not able to respond with love, so we cry out to the Lord: Father, heal our hurting hearts, protect us from further harm, and help us to pray for those who have hurt us. We forgive them because You have forgiven us. We love them because we have been loved by You. Please bless them and help them, in Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.
*Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19
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