Friday, August 4, 2006

Loving a Mosquito

"What a Christian you are!" he [Blue] exclaimed. I think he was a friend to the fellow out of kindness. "I suppose you consider the exhortation 'love your neighbor' a figure of speech. You would love only the lovable. Did you ever try to love someone who was mean, petty, shallow, selfish? Try it."

I told him I was wiling to try to love a villain but that I could not arouse any affection for a mere annoyance, an irremediable nobody. "I think I could love a lion," I said, "but I doubt very much if I every could love a mosquito."

He regarded me seriously. "You consider yourself too much," he returned. "You could love a great enemy. Any healthy man could. Men have boasted that they were to be slain by Caesar. But one needs more than vanity to love a ... a ... what you call a mosquito."

He meant, I suppose, that I needed special graces in charity and fortitude. But the topic to me, being a poor Christian as Blue intimated, was distasteful. I let it drop.
I have my fair share of mosquitoes in my life. Even more humbling, what if I am someone's mosquito? Not even annoying enough to be considered "Caesar" as Blue points out. Something to keep in mind when attempting to love the buzzing pests that God has put me next to on a daily basis.

No comments:

Post a Comment