I’m not always so great at opening my heart. My heart is very open to those I place in my midst: friends and family members I enjoy getting together with. But those I didn’t ask to talk to? Like the folks down the street who let their Doberman run wild through the neighborhood? Or the woman at the bank who didn’t act like I was her favorite customer of the day? Opening my heart isn’t exactly easy.
Soon my family will be moving to a new town. Recently, I found myself looking around the neighborhood and thinking of all the things (and people) I don’t think I’ll miss. That’s not exactly a Christ-like attitude, is it? But in a time when our country and world are divided along political, racial, and cultural lines, I don’t think I’m the only one struggling to keep an open heart.
For this, I think of this prayer by writer Violet Little: “Open our hearts to those you have placed in our midst, that we might walk together on the path you put before us.”
This message is excerpted from “Let’s be honest” by Sarah Carson in the May 2021 Gather magazine.
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