Soft hearts are valuable commodities.
We live in a world filled with hard shells and hurt people. And hurt people build little walls around their souls to protect themselves and make their insides and outsides as stiff as steel. It’s very easy to do.
And it’s how we become cynical and jaded and sarcastic.
It’s how we can talk about gun control and mental health issues at a time when the biggest issue is how we can grieve with those who grieve. It’s how we can listen to the news more than we pray or examine our own hearts. It’s how we can live through this season without thinking of the reasons behind the advent of the Savior.
I’m most impressed with those people who value compassion and love over politics and being right.
Let us be a people who deems softened hearts and shed tears as important. And let us be a people who allow others to show emotion and to talk through their pain and a people who listen first with compassion and selflessness to the precious people that are in our lives.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. (Psalm 147:3,4)
Having a soft heart often opens the door to feeling the difficult emotions alongside the joyful ones…but I’d venture that it’s worth it.
yes, i agree that it does. not an easy thing sometimes.
“Let us be a people who deems softened hearts and shed tears as important.”
Oh, let us.
amen.
yes. thank you nicole.
Thank you for writing this. There is no glory in being “right.” Love and compassion are what really matters.
oh kat! so true! no glory in being right. love that.
Well said Sarah. My only thought as the events of Friday unfolded before me was…..”Jessus come swiftly – we need you now more than ever”. We don’t need more gun control laws – we don’t need political discussions, we need to believe in a world where we care for the broken hearted and bind up their wounds.
oh yes, diane. so very true.
amen. Such good truth here. Wounded people wound people. Everything the world needs is inside of us…we just have to learn how to give it away.
thank you allison. i agree with you completely!
“Let us be a people who deems softened hearts and shed tears as important. And let us be a people who allow others to show emotion and to talk through their pain and a people who listen first with compassion and selflessness to the precious people that are in our lives.”
Thank you for sharing Sarah – we are indeed called to love a hurting world and sometimes the best thing we can do is listen.
yes. i think listening is a lost art. hopefully we can bring it back, victoria! =)
Words I reaally needed to read today. My heart is already softened because of this post. Thank You!
i’m so glad sabrina!!
This is so good. Soft hearts are necessary right now, not political agendas or frustrations.
yes!!
I couldn’t agree more that compassion needs to be number one. But I think you might be missing an angle. For some who are grieving, the reaction is the desire to do something. To pray, to give, even to legislate. Sure, for some, the desire to politicize may be the driving factor, but I think for many, they want to protect and feel like they do something so that others don’t have to experience this again. Because our world is fallen, tragedy will re-occur and the only answer is Jesus. Wanting to take action via a legal means is not bad, it is pragmatism (we can pray come swiftly, but if He doesn’t, let’s not just sit around waiting-let’s still love, whatever that might look like).
We are to in the world, but not of it. Right? So, we have to deal with stuff others deal with (even if it isn’t what we like, the steel, sarcasm, the cynics) because these people need compassion too, and there is no better place to meet them than right where they are.