She knows just what it takes...
There were 2 biblical verses that have been filling my thoughts lately: Love your neighbour as yourself . Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. They are a reminder to me that we really only know God when we interact with other people. There is no way to say, “I love God” when we also hate people. Even those who are most different from us, or with whom we disagree. Frankly, it’s not easy to love people. They don’t act the way we would want, they do things that are hurtful, or they are inconsiderate. Even in our families, it’s hard to love everyone. In larger families, like my own, we are closer to some people than others, and the one we’re closest to changes over time. I’ve also listened to friends talking about their family interactions, where there will be one person who is ostracized from the rest, and people go years without speaking to their parents or siblings. (I don’t understand that, but we’ll leave that for another time.) But