Are you walking in darkness?

I was reading this verse the other day and wrote it down because it really struck me. The verse is I John 2:9... "If anyone claims, "I am living in the light", but hates a christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. If you love your brothers and sisters you are living in the light and do not cause others to stumble."
When I first read that verse, I thought to myself, "I don't hate anyone!". Hate is such a strong word. Then I decided to go look up the definition of hate in the dictionary. Hate means to have strong dislike or ill will for someone or it can also mean to wish to avoid. Well, I guess there are some people that I strongly dislike and definitely wish to avoid!
When we are walking in darkness because we hate a brother or sister, that means we can't see which way to go. It's dark.... we stumble around. It keeps us from moving forward in life. We just get stuck in the darkness. So how do I get past that? We will always have people in our lives that challenge us, but we need to ask God to help us forgive them and to see them through His eyes so that we can live in the light and move forward into what God has planned for us.