Tenderhearted part 5
There's a line in one of my favorite books that I just completely disagree with. Luckily it's said by one of the antagonists so I don't need to agree with it. But what she says is, "God doesn't want you happy, he wants you strong." Completely disagree. What Father wouldn't want His Son (in whom He is well pleased) to be happy? And why would His strength be perfected in our weakness if He wanted us to be strong on our own? Point being, our strength comes from Him. Our strength comes from love. Because God IS love. Love is what makes is strong. Love is what we have, so love is what we can (and should) give. God has filled us up with Himself (with His love) so that we can fill each other up with that same love. But you can't do it if you have a hard heart. You can't do it if you're trying to protect yourself. This is something that I have to constantly work on, but I believe the more excellent way is to just be vulnerable and let God protect you, if any protecting needs to happen. Sometimes we protect ourselves from threats that aren't even there. Aren't even real. Sometimes we make things worse because we're trying to "protect" ourselves, and the only way we know how to do that is by lashing out, or attacking. I don't think God wants that. He doesn't want us to fight any fights except the good fight of faith--which is using our faith to lay hold of the gift of eternal life that we've already been given. The fight is holding fast to the truth in the face of the lie. Ignoring the lie because we know the truth. Staying tenderhearted when the world tries its very best to make us cynical, and bitter, and hard hearted. That's the battle. That's the fight. That's where our focus should be. And, as always, focus on the solution not the problem. Don't try to break a stony heart. Just understand that God took out that stony heart and gave us HIS soft heart. We don't have to be strong... because He already did. Think about how hard--mentally, physically, and emotionally--it must have been for Jesus to endure everything He endured up to and including being nailed to a cross. He did all of the heavy lifting. He did everything that needed to be done. Because He loves us. When you love someone, you can (in a very real sense) move mountains. You can go through things you never thought you'd be able to get through. Because love carries you through. Love sustains you. Having a soft, tender heart doesn't make you weak. Meekness is not weakness. It is strength under control. I believe God DOES want you happy. And because He wants you happy... He has given you everything you will ever need to BE happy. I think a lot of our sorrow, or misery, comes from the erroneous idea that the grass is greener on the other side. We think we would be happy if we had what so and so had. When, in truth, we have everything we need. The trick is appreciating what you have instead of lamenting what you don't have. The trick is to not let the world harder your heart. To let God keep it soft, and tender, and sweet. Because what's inside WILL come out. It's too big not to. So guard your heart by keeping it open. Keeping it open to love. Letting the love that's inside come out!