Isn't it true that our instinct is to pull away from difficult people?
Think of all those people that rub you the wrong way. What do we typically do? Instinctively, we put them in a little box, label it (occasionally reflecting upon it with disdain), file it away in our mental attic, then when forced to deal with that person we pinch our noses and count the minutes until the encounter is over.
And of course there is that last critical stage: We scratch our heads and wonder why our spiritual growth feels so stunted. Maybe, we think, we need to go on retreat? Maybe read another spiritual book? Maybe change churches? ...etc.
I'm sorry to report it doesn't work that way.
Spiritual growth involves gently entering into communion with those difficult persons with open and merciful hearts. That is the redeeming yet challenging work of the cross.
However I can assure you it is transformative; not only for those difficult persons (whose behavior has probably produced a lot of self-alienation already), but for the practitioner of mercy, whose heart is sure to be enlarged in the process.
The heart is like any other muscle; work it and it will grow--and conversely--use it or lose it.
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