"One, two three, four, I declare a thumb war!" My two sons chanted in unison from the back seat of our minivan. This was followed by much moaning and groaning as both tried to put into action the theory of mutual assured destruction.
"All right boys," I said. "That's enough thumb wars. How about something else?"
"Can we play bloody knuckles?" Elliot asked.
"No, that's an easy question," I said. "How about you think about something you learned in Sunday School or church and talk about that?"
There was silence in the back seat as both of my sons contemplated this weight subject. Finally, Elliot said, "Friday is Valentine's Day and Jesus says we should love our enemies on Valentine's Day."
"No," Vince said, very assuredly. "Jesus didn't say that."
"Yes, He did," Elliot said with as much confidence as an Olympic skier heading down the bunny hill. "It says so in the Bible."
"Elliot," Vince said, in a professorial voice. "When people talk about Valentine's Day, they are talking about romantic love and that is not what Jesus was talking about."
"But I wasn't talking about romantic love," Elliot said.
"Yes, but Jesus wants us to love our enemies every day," Vince said earnestly. "Not just on Valentine's Day."
It was a little amusing to have my boys hammering out some pretty hard aspects of the Sermon of the Mount in the back seat.
Jesus' words are really hard to put into practice, but one of the hardest things is that these are not just words that we need to put into practice on special occasions like Washington's Birthday, Columbus Day, and Valentine's Day. We are to love those who dislike us every day.
Even Mondays.
It isn't easy, but by God's grace we can do it, one day at a time.
