Love your enemy?

“them” and “us”

“Love your enemy” is a hard command,

for it’s easy to see the other as enemy,

and to feel righteous in dismissing another

as wrong, as opposite, as irredeemable in their flaws,

it’s easy and comfortable to know who we are

because we know we aren’t that other,

what I work on in my soul

is another path to sureness,

a drive for connection,

to see the other as a source for commonality,

to see excessive individuality as a trap,

just as much a trap as excessive “us” opposed to “them,”

I hope for “them” to become “us,”

I know perils exist that can sunder connection,

that hate pulls at us just as much as love does,

I think Jesus wanted to help us be as one,

every time we choose gratuitous acts of kindness,

we choose love over hate,

and Jesus should smile.

by Henry H. Walker

July 9, ‘18