Love so that people don’t rejoice when bad things happen to you.

The post on social media caught my eye, and I immediately thought, “Why would someone rejoice when bad things happen?”

Wait. I immediately thought of at least five instances of that very response in the past few days, when people heard some news then said something like…

Well, I don’t feel sorry for him.

Let’s be honest. She sort of brought it on herself.

That’s karma, baby.

Choices have consequences, and sometimes we struggle to give compassion to people who choose to disregard others. When someone doesn’t love well, it’s challenging to love him or her well in return. But it’s not impossible. Sometimes loving difficult people well can include holding our tongue, keeping our attitudes in check, and setting healthy boundaries so we avoid more hurt – to ourselves and others.

Choices have consequences, but we’re not in charge of all those consequences.