Loving Molly

September 14, 2006

By William E. Richardson

“Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12, NKJV).

My wife and I were told before we brought the gray, newly weaned kitten home with us that her name was “Whiney.” She lived up to that name. After the first few weeks she became comfortable in her new environment and stopped the pitiful cry. We renamed her Molly.

Molly warmed up to anyone who came to visit. They liked to pet her. She liked being petted. She was a fun kitten! One of our favorite games with her was tossing rings from the tops of milk jugs for her to fetch.

In her later years, her personality changed. The one-time, fun-loving Molly became unhappy. Especially the day we brought our baby son home from the hospital. Molly sniffed the air that day, and then greeted him, not with a kiss, but a hiss. She soon became unreceptive to anyone who visited. It became obvious she was ill — an illness that led to her death.

Many people who visited the parsonage during Molly’s final months knew only the Molly she became. All of their memories are of an unpleasant, irritable, inhospitable, little gray cat. My wife and I recall a very different animal. We know that before Molly became a frustrated cat, she was a fun cat. I mention both sides of Molly’s personality because sometimes, the same thing happens to people.

We all know someone who’s easily irritable, grumpy, gruff. What we don’t know is how pleasant they used to be. Nor the tough situations they’ve survived. God has the missing pieces, the full perspective on every person’s personality. He may not fill us in on the details, but He does tell us how to treat others, no matter how naughty or nice they treat us.

If we return the unpleasant treatment people give us, we’re not representing Jesus. When we return love to those who work against us and pray for them, we’re honoring God by obeying Jesus’ commands (Matthew 5:44). Not because it’s easy, but because it’s God’s will. Besides, your irritating neighbor, rascally co-worker, and the unfriendly checkout girl at the grocery store are all people for whom Jesus died. While He died loving them, we’re to live doing the same.

There will be irritable Mollys in our lives. We don’t know the people they used to be. We don’t know the people they could be. But with the love of Jesus shining through us, we may love them into the people they should be.

William E. Richardson is senior pastor of Afton (Iowa) Assembly of God.