|| hate vs. love ||

Matthew 5:44

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Last week as I was spending 3,000,000 hours working on my english homework (poem analyzation)

the thought came to my mind on the word HATE. No it was not just out of the blue we had to find synonyms for words in the poetry. I was using theasurus.com (haha!) anyway when I searched the word hate I cannot tell you how surprised I was to see so many synonyms! 

Are we using hate that much in our daily conversation that we have found an incredible number of replacement words. 

As I went throughout this week I decided to try to cut down on my use of the word hate (and synonyms) and the difference that I have seen in myself is insane.

At my school we have block days which means I get Journalism (yay!) Math (not so yay!) and Science (even less yay!) Here's some quotes from my typical Thursday:

"I hate having a zero hour."

"I hate being tired!"

"I hate science!" 

"I hate math!"

"I hate my math class it's awful!"

"I hate studying!"

TODAY (a not so typical Thursday) I tried to cut down on my [hating]

I feel like it went pretty well and the day seemed much more productive.

While I still do not PREFER certain things (ehemm classes)  I know that they are for my benefit.

And now for a word on HATING people.

Hate; feel intense or passionate dislike for (someone).

I'm going to admit (as I'm sure most of us can) I have said that I hate someone before.

But when you think about it.. do we really have that despite deep within our hearts? Why do we hate these people? 

Is it because of:

flaws

jealousy

annoyances

and other little things?

Perhaps the things YOU HATE about someone they hate too. Maybe they can't stand the way they talk or the way they look. 

A lesson that I have had to learn is to PRAY for those that I feel a certain dislike for. Those who bug me, enter my prayers every so often and I have been able to alter (even just a little) my feelings towards them.

Our Heavenly Father loves everyone through their flaws, through their sins, and through their mistakes. So let us try to be a little more like Him. A little more loving, a little more forgiving, and a little more charitable.

Let us eliminate hate.

On a COMPLETELY unrelated note here is a picture my adorable friend Emileigh took of me by the construction at our school. [I know I could have found some cheesy way to tie it into the rest of this post but I'll spare you the suffering]