Most of the challenges we are taking on as a family are ways we can reach out to others in physical need and give, either with our time or with our money. For February, we decided to try something different. Something that is going to be painful. Something that, honestly, I don't want to do. But how can I teach my kids to be better people if I don't stretch myself and aim to become a better person?
February is a month of LOVE. It's a month of making Valentines for your sweetheart, a month of making heart shaped pancakes and sandwiches for your kids, and of saying I love you more. A verse keeps coming back to me, as much as I want to ignore it. Actually, it is found several times in the Bible. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Seriously God? Do you know what they did to me? Do you know what they said behind my back? To my face? How they hurt me? Yep, He does.
So this month, we are going to pray for that person in our lives that persecuted us. We all have that person. Maybe a person from work, from a church group, from school, a neighbor, maybe even a family member. Someone who has said or done things to you that seriously hurt. Maybe it just happened. Maybe it happened years ago. For my kids, that will mean praying for a kid at school or on their sports team who hurt their feelings or did something mean to them. For me, that will mean praying for someone in my life that, honestly, I just don't want to pray for. Everyday this month I will pick a topic to pray for in that person's life. At the end, I don't expect them to be changed (but then again, God can do anything!), but I pray that I will be changed. I hope I will be a little more forgiving and a little more loving.
Matthew 5:44 (NIV)
"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"
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