A Definition for Empathy– Author Unknown
In the post on Charles Addams – I imagine the old guy is going to bend over and pick up the envelope stamped with the great big heart, and voila, a broken relationship is mended – in a perfect world.
But the world isn’t perfect and none of us is either.
- Sometimes the prospect of risking rejection, humiliation, and more pain is intimidating; so, too, is admitting some responsibility for the slammed and locked doors in relationships.
- Sometimes it takes years – decades – to excise the splinter that broke us apart.
- Sometimes we may never know because the reason has nothing to do with us, but everything to do problems God that hasn’t chosen to show us.
Now, with certain situations, given the personalities and pressures involved, it’s just not smart to try to break down barriers. Every once in awhile it is flat out silly or dangerous to have any contact at all with a feuding friend or family member who won’t open their mail!
Praying for these people, however, isn’t risky . . .
As I go through my address book, addressing Christmas cards, I see the names of folks for whom I haven’t been as diligent to pray, taking their inventory is not praying for them, either. 🙁 I can recount their character defects faster than I can remember they too might have had troubles, insecurities, disappointments, and more bad news than a soul can handle –
How do I turn that into a prayer?
V-e-r-r-r-r-y carefully.
Prayer may not change things for you, but it for sure changes you for things. ~William Shoemaker
If David believed he could scale a wall with God’s help – I believe I can pray for people who have put up barriers – including me and my own little self-protecting fortresses. (Psalm 18:29)
When I sign all those Christmas cards – that I never get in the mail on time – with all the Bible verses about love, joy and peace because of Christ’s birth let it be real to me . . . so it might make a difference to someone who doesn’t seem to open their mail.
Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts. ~Lenora Mattingly Weber