"Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me."

Thomas Merton once said "To know the cross is not merely to know our own sufferings. For the cross is the sign of salvation, and no one is saved by his own sufferings. To know the cross is to know that we are saved by the sufferings of Christ; more, it is to know the love of Christ who underwent suffering and death in order to save us. It is, then, to know Christ. For to know his love is not merely to know the story of his love, but to experience in our spirit that we are loved by him, and that in his love the Father manifests his own love for us, through his Spirit poured forth into our hearts... "

Following Christ is not easy. To love people around us is a cross. We all know that people are not always easy to love. They betray our trust, take our kindness for granted, suck up our emotions etc. How can we go on to carry the cross. I think Merton has the answer for us. Fix our vision on Christ, His love and suffering. Then we can go on carrying the cross; loving others.

I do have ppl around me whom I find it difficult to love and i can't name them. They are the cross I got to carry. Once, God had to intervene. When I was serving my NS, there was this guy, a fellow christian whom I found hard to love, or even like. He loved to boast and readily put ppl down. God knew I love to hate him. So He intervened. On my training at Taiwan, I was put to buddy him, for 2 weeks!! Just 2 of us attached to some other unit's officer. I had to share with him the same landrover, cook together, look after his stuff and vice versa when we bath etc. God taught me that I can love him and care for him be will, even emotionally I dun feel like. He taught to love despite.

Lord, teach me to love ______ ____ ____ ______. Amen.