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MembersLove Your Neighbor Until It Hurts

What good is love if it doesn’t bring correction and make us better people?

True love is about making one another better, not mere emotion.
True love is about making one another better, not mere emotion. Photo: Nati Shohat/Flash90

Our four kids were all born within a year of each other. One day when I noticed that one of the flowers I had grown was picked I was ticked. So, I lined them up military style at attention in front of the flower box and asked them who picked the flower.

It was silent with some looking around at each other. From the well-known expressions I easily discerned the culprit. But nobody wanted to admit picking Abba’s flower. So I said to the one kid I knew hadn’t done it that he would get the punishment. Knowing he didn’t do it he started to cry about the injustice, but after only a few seconds his little sister began to cry too, and with tears running down her cheeks whimpered “I… I… I did it.”

Bringing correction to your kids comes naturally. We do it because we love them, though I’m not sure why they are constantly telling me what I did wrong. It is these loving relationships in the family that allow us to speak honestly...

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About the author

Patrick Callahan

This is an example of author bio/description. Beard fashion axe trust fund, post-ironic listicle scenester. Uniquely mesh maintainable users rather than plug-and-play testing procedures.

2 responses to “Love Your Neighbor Until It Hurts”

  1. Susan says:

    Yeshua and His followers, though non- violent, dared to “ROCK the BOAT”. And most were martyred. But we know assuredly, that they loved their neighbor!

  2. Lois Heal Bright says:

    Thank you for your interesting article; your paragraph in which you write about learning the meaning of God’s love and growing in compassionate concern for others, is a true blessing.

    May God continue to bless you, your family, and your ministry.

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