“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36).

I was meditating on this verse and wondering who my enemies are. Thankfully, I’ve come far enough in my healing that I don’t have anyone to call my enemy anymore. Thank You, Lord! And then the Holy Spirit hit me with this: sometimes my kids are my enemies. It often seems like they are working against me and all the things I’m trying to accomplish. What parent hasn’t experienced this?

So often they do exactly what we don’t want them to do. So often they wreck our plans of getting a good night’s sleep or of completing a task or project. So often they are ungrateful when we are going out of our way to do something nice for them. Sometimes they are selfish at the most embarrassing and frustrating moments, when we really need them to share and be generous. But the Most High is kind to the ungrateful and selfish.

“Love your enemies.” This is what God is calling us to do by giving us our kids; this is what our vocation is―to love and to be patient and kind to our kids, even when it feels like they are our enemies. Beg God for the grace to do this through our Blessed Mother, and he will surely give it to you.

And who of us haven’t been kids ourselves and foiled our parents’ plans over and over? Who of us haven’t been ungrateful and selfish? Sometimes humans are kind and merciful, and sometimes they aren’t, but our Heavenly Father always is. Thank you, Lord, for being merciful to me, even when I am unwittingly working against your plans.

Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. Love your enemies.