Loving the Unlovable
Dailey's Weekly
“I did a thing,” my husband confessed.
He dipped his head, and I recognized the look. Panic rose in my throat.
“What did you do?”
He crept toward me slowly and held out his phone. When the picture came into focus, I held my breath.
“You didn’t…” I sighed.
“Actually, I kinda did.”
“Paul!”
“What? You know the kids will be excited.”
“The kids, yes. Me? Not so much.”
“But look how cute!” Paul pushed his phone closer to my face and a rust-colored goldendoodle puppy stared back at me, head cocked, adorable eyes beckoning me to love him. I tried to hide my smile.
“I pick him up this afternoon.” My husband pressed his lips together, and I gasped.
That was the day I met Copper. Admittedly, he was the most darling puppy I’d seen in real life. His tiny paws were precious, his bark was all scratchy and endearing… Even his puppy breath was charming.
Until it wasn’t.
See, Copper was great on the outside—a real-life teddy bear for the kids to hug and take selfies with. Swell. Cutesy. Ideal. On the inside, he was the devil. And I do mean the devil.
We’d already trained one grown goldendoodle, our Millie. She understood human language, respected the furniture, potty trained in a few short weeks, learned to wipe her feet at the welcome mat, and didn’t require a leash to be walked. The practically perfect canine.
Copper, on the other hand, chewed our baseboards, scratched at doors, devoured expensive tennis shoes, and rolled in his own feces in his crate every single morning so he required a bath before I took the kids to school. When we told him “no,” he cocked one brow and did it anyway.
I bought books on training difficult puppies. Read blogs. Watched YouTube videos. The demon could not be exercised.
At the six-month mark, after deciding the puppy was fine to chill in the house while we were gone for two hours, he chewed a Copper-sized hole in Paul’s favorite leather couch. The next week, when our couple friends insisted the puppy was surely about to turn a corner, begging us to let them train him, we handed him over (amidst full disclosures and prayers for the best). Sayonara, Copper.
This week photos of our beloved ex-pet surfaced in Google memories and my insides twisted with fond recollections, though we lacked the will to love Copper through it. And the whole thing got me thinking (as these things often do)… What do we do when God calls us to love the unlovable?
Cause let’s face it: sometimes folks, like Copper, are downright unlovable. It’s the overbearing family member who criticizes your life choices, the guy in traffic who cuts you off and does ten miles under the speed limit, the person who cheated you, betrayed you, lied to you, or all of the above. Sometimes it’s even a church member who left the deepest scars.
What do we do with these detestable folks?
Jesus gives us three directives for the unlovables in our lives:
1. Forgive ‘em.
2. Love ‘em.
3. Bless ‘em.
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” (Matthew 6:14).
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:44).
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets,” (Matthew 7:12).
To view the full video discussion of this week’s topic, click here.
At first glance, these commands seem impossible. Painful. But our Lord knows the corrosion that takes over when we neglect these commands. Resentment and anger are like drinking poison. They destroy us from the inside out. Yet love wins. Every time.
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law,” (Romans 13:10).
Has someone in your circle wronged you today? The best, healthiest method to overcome the hurt is to forgive them. Pray for them. Brainstorm ways you can serve them. Your resentment doesn’t punish them; it only hurts you. If necessary, distance yourself from the offender, but always act in love and forgiveness first.
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you,” (Ephesians 4:32).
I’m happy to report our furry offender still resides with our friends. They love him, though he’s now destroyed his share of comforters, two couches, and several remote controls. One night they sent a photo of his latest offense, Copper with his notorious smirk, proudly perched on their new sofa he’d just desecrated.
We’re thankful someone out there is loving him through it. We’ve since forgiven his trespasses and purchased a new sofa ourselves, but we’re not the folks for the job.
After all, God calls us to love others. Sometimes a wider proximity facilitates just that.
Verse of the Day:
“Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive,” (Colossians 3:13).
Quote of the Day:
“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” -Nelson Mandela
My book God Stories is now available for purchase here. Or, to listen to the full audiobook for FREE, click here.