Tare Down that Wall!

Great words at a great time in the history of the world. All because someone saw something different.

The wall I'm talking about today, is the wall of the heart. Every time someone is hurt, they build a wall around them, a protective one. It can become so thick that it discloses the truth about how they really feel. They tend to lash out answers, quickly and sometimes loudly. They are always finding fault with everything. They complain constantly. It leaves you thinking about their coldness. You judge them to be unkind and avoid being with them in order to avoid the lashing, conflict and the lasting feeling of being battered. They freeze you out...

Why do people appear so bitter and unkind? Is it but a refection of the way they have been mistreated? What is the remedy for those brave enough to endure their company? Is that why we are to love our perceived enemy? Often the way people act is a learned behaviour. It is an expected response by someone who had been subjected to hatefulness, and then became its mirrored image. Unknowingly, their actions alienate them from others... and, they continue down the path of loneliness.

Breaking the cycle is like getting out of the boat. Confront it, lovingly. I have always disliked barking dogs (people) with harsh tones, especially people that talk badly about others. Like dogs that bite, I shy away.

Yesterday, something strange happened at coffee hour. Someone offered me a chair as they were leaving, causing me to sit with several people that I usually avoid, as to not cause conflict. After conversing for a short time, I began to see someone beautiful. The wall had been let down exposing a "loving heart". Whether I had misjudged this person to be different or perhaps, there was a metamorphosis I'll never know. But I know that I will not see anything but a loving person when I look at that person in the future. I was wrong. There sat the pearl hidden in a shell, the diamond cut from the mine, and the brightness hidden by a cloud.

Sometimes it is not the other person, maybe the shackles were removed from my own eyes. I think that is how Jesus is. He sees the good in His creations. Love is like that....no matter what you do or are, your still special in the eyes of someone that loves you, because your focus is only on the good in them.

Looking for the good in others isn't always possible through human eyes, but when we ask for the Lord to "Open our eyes through His," we will see what we have not been able to see before, through the eyes of our heart. And through eyes of our heart we will become better human beings and emulators of love.

Love is a decision. That means that you must take the first step.