GRIEVING
THE WRONG

Topics: Love; Rejection; Relationships; Success

References: John 15:9–17; Romans 12:18

I was talking to my spiritual director about a deep spiritual grief. I kept telling him how woefully I must have failed someone I loved for that person to have wronged me so destructively.

He said to me calmly, “Who are you to think you are better than our Lord? After all, he was singularly unsuccessful with a great many people.”

That remark has stood me in great stead time and again. I have to try, but I do not have to succeed. Following Christ has nothing to do with success as the world sees success. It has to do with love.

—Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water (Shaw, 2001)