Challenges make us stronger. Is there anything more challenging than trying to love your enemies? Light the World Day 8

in #lighttheworld7 years ago (edited)

Throughout my participation in the #LightTheWorld campaign, I have been pretty open about the fact that I am not a religious person. However, I am a teacher who recognizes excellent teaching when I see it. Regardless of one's religious affiliation, it is hard to deny that Jesus was (and still is) one of the greatest teachers who ever lived.



Nelson Mandela was also an excellent teacher.

Part of being an excellent teacher is presenting one's students with challenges. No one ever became stronger by avoiding challenges (unless the challenge is to become the weakest person alive). An athlete does not become elite by only competing against inferior talent. A weightlifter does not gain the ability to bench press 225 pounds by only picking up 10 pound weights. A NASA engineer does not help put people in space if she only does the easy math problems. A person does not become better at loving thy neighbor if he only loves the people who love him back.

Jesus, and many other great teachers, taught that people should love everyone.

Now that is a challenge.

When one accepts a challenge and attempts to overcome it, he does not immediately succeed (it wouldn't be much of a challenge if he did). There are many failures along the way. I would guess that there are far more failure than successes. But that is how the process works. We learn from and are strengthened by our failures. It is only after these failures that we have built up the strength and knowledge required to succeed.

Therefore, if the end goal is to become elite at loving others, we must overcome challenges in order to hone that ability.

I can think of nothing more challenging than loving one's enemies.


I can honestly say I am not there yet. I may never be. But I will try. It is in this constant effort that I will become stronger and better at loving others. Religious or not, I want to improve in this area. There is far too much hate in this world. It is worth the effort in order to avoid being part of that hate.

Today's #lighttheworld theme is inspiring me to attempt the challenge.

The official ligththeworld site states:

Jesus taught:

"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you."

—Matthew 5:44

It continues...

"We may not get along with everyone, but we shouldn’t be unkind to anyone. Jesus showed us the ultimate example of loving an enemy."



Martin Luther King Jr. was another amazing teacher.

The #lighttheworld website provides some suggestions for ways to meet the challenge of loving your enemies:


  • When was the last time you weren’t at your best?
    Reach out to apologize to someone you may have hurt or offended.

  • Do you have a family member, classmate, or coworker who’s difficult to get along with?
    Focus on being kind to the person for an entire week.

  • Is someone getting bullied at your school or work?
    Stand up for your peer in front of a bully.

For more information on #lighttheworld, please visit https://www.mormon.org/christmas/25-ways-25-days/day-8



Several community members have already followed @gavvet's lead and have created #lighttheworld posts of their own. Now we need someone from the community to inspire others on day 9. Tomorrow's theme is: "I was sick, and ye visited me. " You can find more information here.

If you decide to participate by creating your own post for day 9, please make sure to use the #lighttheworld tag and include the day's video, theme and link, as we have done.

If you'd like to see a great example, please check out @methusalem's inspirational Day 3 post https://steemit.com/lighttheworld/@methusalem/freely-ye-have-received-freely-give.

or

@sonofthunder's wonderful Day 6 post https://steemit.com/lighttheworld/@sonofthunder/lighttheworld-day-6

Although we will be on the lookout for great #lighttheworld posts every day, we will definitely need contributions on days 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24.



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I don't think it is wise to love your enemies regardless of the motivations of the enmity. It is wiser to forgive him of his mistakes, provided that first he repented them.

I think forgiveness is a great first step... and one that I can actually do.

I agree with you on this, I am not religious at all but I do believe that Jesus was one of the greatest teachers, he was most likely a real person but the church has made him into something holy and unrealistic. I'll read the tomorrow's theme and see if I can add something of value.

I think the "unrealistic" part all depends on faith.

"In Lak'ech Ala K'in"

Ancient saying from the Mayans. Translated roughly to "I am you, and you are another me."

A beautiful step toward treating your "neighbor" as yourself. They are you.

Great post!

That is beautiful! I have never heard that.

More challenging than loving your enemy? Well, there's: Setting up an IOTA wallet (I know, that's profane)
https://steemit.com/iota/@rockwellontherun/imagine-iota-would-have-a-wallet

özür dilerim yeni üye oldum nasıl takip ediliyor

I love this saying. If we treated everyone like this there would be less hatred and misunderstandings leading to hostilities.

No sailor became expert by a calm sea...

very wise! thank you!

I've recently been leaning toward the teachings of the Buddha - not in a religious context, being that this was not his original intent. My wife and I did a 10 day silent retreat where we learned to do vipassana; the type of meditation that the Buddha did in order to reach enlightenment.

What I found most interesting was how the teacher taught us to forget about the traditions, rituals and nonsense of all religions and focus on the science of observing the sensations on the body while not reacting.

After many sometimes agonizing hours of this introspection, some amazing things begin to happen. For one, you begin to realize on a fundamental level that everything is impermanent. Most notable pain and fear. You also learn that fear can always be broken down to lack of understanding.

The sheer act of observing the sensations of things like fear and pain without reaction eventually causes them to subside. Over the course of a lot of time meditating, you one by one eliminate the attributes that enslave you, such as cravings and aversions.

What you are left with is pure love and understanding with profound wisdom. Well, I hope to attain that someday but still have a long way to go!

But it is a journey worth taking!

Learning to guess less of a fuck about people that you dislike is probably a good thing to do, forgiving even better, but actually showing them real love might just be a step too far.

Perhaps... but how much can one improve by making the attempts to achieve such a seemingly impossible goal?

Once I learned to love my "enemies" I realized I never had ones. In german we call them "Arschengel" (badass angels), because they mirror me where I am doing wrong.

Hmmmm, it is a very strong one. To love your enemies and those who hurt you or do you wrong... It is not easy but with God's grace it can be achieved, I do keep grudges before. I was a pro in keeping grudges and having this revenging spirit always at alert not until my dad called me one day and said to me when you revenge does it change anything.I also learnt keeping grudges only makes you heavy and unable to move forward. It is not easy but I always pray God gives me the strength to love my enemies, forgive them and forget what they did. Nice post, thanks

Wow what a great piece, well just like you said it's never easy to love your enemies but as the Bible has instructed us we have No excuse. Permit me to come this way please "it's 100percent possible that we will never be appreciated enough for our good works but we just don't have to look at what the world can offer us but what we can offer the world" for if everyone should have this mindset and share the view the world well truly be free of hate and will become a better place for us all.

Thank you for this encouraging post @hanshotfirst

I really like it..... you spread great wisdom, cheer, and spirit all over the Steem blockchain and hopefully someday it will echo all over the internet!

I love the Martin Luther King Jr. Saying:

"Love is the only thing that can turn an enemy into a friend"

Peace ✌, Hope 🙏, & Love 💖!