If you’re like me, those thoughts made you want to leave this page, never come back, and push the ideas out of your mind until they don’t bother you anymore. I cried the other day because of a dog and spent the rest of the day working hard to forget about it, because I was convinced there was really nothing I could do to help him.
What does your heart break for? Mine, for some reason, breaks for animals. So much so that all of my life I’ve resisted working in shelters or vet care because I over-empathize with their struggle to the point of personal torment. Over the years I’ve learned to activate a deflective emotional shield whenever I think about animal suffering, the way that I hold my nose when cutting an onion to keep from crying. Factory farms in the US, for example, don’t bother me, because I force myself not to think about them.
Maybe that’s the exact opposite of what we should be doing with our short lives. Pastor Dan Nold, in his last few sermons given at Calvary Church in State College, PA, has reminded me to ask God to break my heart for what breaks His, to allow my “holy discontent” to create a vision for change, and to allow that vision to lead to action.
Maybe the reason that there are 163 million orphans in the world or that 319,000 children under the age of 5 have already died from preventable poverty conditions since jan 1st is that we don’t allow ourselves to be struck deep enough by our holy discontent.
Its uncomfortable and painful to allow our hearts to break for someone or something else. But if we really listen to our heartbreak and make the brave decision to immerse in it, it might lead to meaningful change. Martin Luther King Jr. did it, and so did Ghandi.
I’m challenged today to press through the discomfort of seeing animal cruelty and to begin to pray for an action plan of how to postively combat it in here in Peace Corps Armenia.
Weekly grape:
Am I letting my heart break for what breaks God’s heart?
No comments:
Post a Comment