Once again, I should be cleaning my kitchen….but I need to sit down for a minute, so I wanted to share something that popped into my brain today.
I was running late on my way to a birthday luncheon for a very dear friend, who is also Mr. OverKill’s aunt. As I was driving down the road… quickly…the person in front of me decided that they would play a little game with me. You know that game where they drive extremely slow, in order to make you slow down, and then as soon as you do, they speed up. Grrr….it appeared to be intentional, and it started to tick me off. But then, I remembered that it’s not all about me, and I took a deep breath and decided to remain calm. The next time they went ridiculously slow, I saw an opportunity to pass them, and I did.
As I pulled away from them, I realized that in an attempt not to become angry with these people, I was hardening my heart. Have you ever experienced that feeling? I thought, what a shame that someone I don’t even know has caused me to harden my heart towards annoying people.
:)
In some ways it is a protective reflex. I have to protect my heart, my emotions, my feelings from the abuse that seems to ooze from the world. The trick, I have found, is to remember to soften it again. The world is going to keep throwing junk at me, but I need to remember that they are blind. Psalm 82:5 says of the wicked,
They do not know, nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness;
I must remember that the world simply doesn’t know better, and I must not harden my heart to them. I need to soften my heart, and be moved to compassion for a lost and dying world.