Owe nothing except to love.

Reading 2 Rom 13:8-10
Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, “
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

This fragment of scripture was sent to me in an e-mail by a member of my volunteer organization. I found it incredibly poignant and relevant to my personal struggles at the moment.

When people hurt us or when a relationship has become in some way strange, our knee-jerk response is “get over it”. In order to get over it, we often distance ourselves from that person and try to remember the reasons why the relationship had to change so that we don’t fall into an endless cycle of disappointment and mourning. However, at some point this anger and hatred becomes unjustified. It turns from venting into this annoying habit that you just can’t quit.

I’m not saying you’re not allowed to vent. I’m not saying that you’re not allowed to be angry or even sad. But at some point you need to release yourself from these feelings and recognize that even though maybe your relationship has altered to the effect that you do not owe him/her your friendship, your loyalty, etc. you still owe him/her your love.

It’s interesting to think that in the end, those who have damaged us the most have earned nothing except our love.