A world without hate...

“Hatred is like a long, dark shadow. Not even the person it falls upon knows where it comes from, in most cases. It is like a two-edged sword. When you cut the other person, you cut yourself. The more violently you hack at the other person, the more violently you hack at yourself. It can often be fatal. But it is not easy to dispose of.” - Haruki Murakami

Most hatred is based on fear, one way or another. It's often hard to detect behind the pain and wall of hatred but it's almost always there; like a warm woolly cardigan under a black leather jacket on a winters day. Warm, safe, comfortable and unseen. I suppose that's one of the reasons why people tend to cling to their hates so stubbornly, they sense that once the hate is gone they will be forced to deal with the pain and fears that may have never seen the light of day.

And so many of us find solace in the familiarity of our pain as it justifies our fears and our hates as they protect us from the vulnerability of getting hurt. But just for a moment imagine a world without hate, without pain and the fear behind it all. What would it look like? A world with vulnerability and an infinite for people to love.

“As long as you hate, there will be people to hate.” - George Harrison

Every Broken Heart...

 

Someone once said that for every scar there is a story of survival. And they were right. The stories written on scars are never pretty, they can be heartbreaking, incredibly hard to read and even harder to tell. But along the lines of every scar there is a story of survival, a story of grace, a story of overcoming, a story of hope and of life. Many people never tell their stories, for reasons most us are unable to comprehend. But for those few who let their heartbreak stories be told, they often find that in the telling, in the sharing of their story there is healing. Healing not only for themselves but for those with whom they share.

It has often been said that the most powerful ministry is simply sharing two story's, your story and the story of the one that saved you. Is it possible that the story of us at our weakest is the story of Him at his best? Is it possible that our worst scars can showcase His healing? Is it possible that every broken heart is a glowing light? Is it possible that through honesty, through sharing our scar written stories we can find our purpose, our greatest ministry, a journey of peace and healing not only for ourselves but also to those who are now where we once were?

"But every broken heart is a glowing light
He will find it out in the darkness
Every lonely song is a brilliant sound
He will hear it out from a distance"
Sky Circles, Falling Up

Quiet love...

“Love fascinates me. It defies logic, spans cultures, transgresses moral, political, social, economic, racial and ethnic boundaries. Love is all-powerful and all-encompassing. I don't think I am a romantic for saying so. History shows that love emerges from the most horrific of situations. It makes good people do bad things and bad people do good things. Love is everything.

Yet despite its universality, love is surprisingly hard to pin down. And trickily, the harder you look for it, the harder it is to find.

My observations have led me to discover my favorite kind of love. It's the quiet kind. The bragging, over-compensating, facades and performances don't enter the picture. What takes my breath away is catching the inconspicuous lovers in a tender moment, when they think nobody is looking. He tucks her hair behind her ear, she strokes his cheek with the back of her hand. They lock eyes across the room. It's beautiful, because it's real. And it's heartening.” Laura Valerie