Broken hearts

Has your heart ever been broken?  Last night, my husband and I went to church and this song was being sung and the line that just jumped out at me was “break my heart, for what breaks yours.”  The “yours” is referencing God, and I take this to mean, that my heart needs to be “tender” to the things that God sees as being less than filled with His Grace.

What breaks your heart?  For me it is seeing pain, heartache, grief and/or injustice and sometimes I just don’t know why I feel the things that I do, but I do and I’m not quite sure what I am supposed to do about it.  Sometimes I run from the situation at hand and try to busy myself in something else, but this nagging feeling comes back over me and leads me right back from that which I ran.

It is when I heard the words from the song sung, “break my heart, for what breaks yours” that I finally got a glimmer that God was showing me the areas in my life or the lives of those who bless me, that “this” is what breaks His heart, when we or the things in our lives are out of balance….out of sync in some way.

In these moments, I then turn to Him and my question is – ok, you’ve shown me something, now what am I supposed to do?  Years ago, I said a prayer that God use me.  That I was willing to be used by Him, for His purpose.  Sometimes though what I feel I’m being asked to do is not only difficult, but also confusing, especially in light of the fact that I don’t know it all, or even most of it!  I need His guidance.  My hope is that I am being led by Him, and not working in vain for my own personal gain.

Then I get this kind of notice – Proverbs 27:5, 6

Better is open rebuke
   than hidden love.

 Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
   but an enemy multiplies kisses.

Rebuke, seems like a hard word, but if you are truly concerned about a situation, what is a warning that doesn’t sound like a reproach?  If a child runs across the street without looking, do you not admonish him…..lovingly?  It might not seem that way at first, but you are acting out of love!  Ok, what if it isn’t a child, but an adult who is disregarding an area of potential concern, how do you approach that with them?  At what point does it become "your" business?  And that is a very fine line and not one I take lightly, and I could err on the wrong side of it, but as I stated earlier, when I run from this and the niggling of my mind starts, I feel something is up.  Still I can and have been wrong, but I hope that the person is at least aware that I am trying to be that type of friend mentioned in Proverbs 27:6.  Who is being cheated, if you are less than open, and I'm not talking about being brutal, I'm talking about being concerned?

I try to honestly and as gently as possible make my concerns known.  I unfortunately may not always handle this with aplomb; in fact it might come off as more like a bomb.  I would hope that I too could count on someone to try to correct me, and the one who use to do so has now gone on to God.  I don’t want “yes” people in my life, I want people strong enough in their convictions to stand up and tell me, gently of course, when I’m out of kilter.  I may not want to hear it at first, but if I feel the person has my best interests at heart, then I will begrudgingly let their words sink into my heart.  I am not without many faults, but to the best of my ability, I will love those with whom God has blessed me. 

Looking up!~ Barb