"Love your neighbour as yourself"

I'm not sure if everyone has noticed, but I have a bible quote underneath my blog title.
This quote refers to the "Word of Life," of the Focolare Movement which is basically one short sentence from the bible that anyone can try to live specifically for that month.


"Love your neighbour as yourself," is the one for the month of October. 
In the Word of Life (one page meditation upon the quote), it reflects on this sentence and usually includes an experience of how someone has lived these words . In the reflection, it focuses on key aspects: Loving everyone, Being the First to Love, and Loving to the point of reciprocal Love. If you want to read the whole reflection (not long):"Love your neighbour as yourself.


As I think of how I've lived the Word of Life this month, it reminds me of my experience with my boss at work (a few posts back). Even through her rude attitude, I knew that she was "my neighbour" too, and I had to love everyone including her. After embracing the suffering, I was able to be the first to love her even though in my heart I was really hurt. And the last part, loving to the point of mutual/ reciprocal love. So ever since that incident, every time I see her I still greet her with a great big smile because I enjoy going to work. And most of the time, she smiles back at me. Last week, I made a mistake again, but this time the way she spoke to me was with a different attitude. She spoke more softly so not everyone could hear and with a "gentle" tone of voice. I could see that now she has respect for me and doesn't treat me differently like before. In her way, this is how I've felt her reciprocal love. Also last week, she was even giving comments of encouragement to everyone, which is very unusual. To sum it up, only love can really conquer all. Word of Life: "Love your neighbour as yourself."