Sharing is hard. It doesn't come easy when we are little. Letting others play with our toys and star in our make believe games is something we are forced to do by Mom. It’s not easy at first. When you share, you have to let go of control. Your toy is in someone else's care. Your make believe story has a new star. And it is hard to watch the new unexpected path your toy or story will take while in the care of this person you have reluctantly trusted. It's not easy to share. Only when we see beyond our sadness and into the happiness that our toy or game has brought to another that we begin to understand the value of sharing.
As an adult, I still struggle with sharing. But it isn’t my toys, or my stories, or my time that I want to keep to myself. It’s my heart. I don’t want to let go of what is inside of it. I don’t want to let others poke around in there. I don’t want to be vulnerable. I like to keep everyone a safe distance away so nobody gets hurt. If it were up to me, I could probably live like that the rest of my life. It would be a safe life. But that is probably all it would be- just safe.
The problem with my heart is that I do share it. I share it with my God. And trusting Him with it has become easier and easier and I travel along my faith journey. I am happy to have Him poke around in there and even make Himself comfortable. God has been a constant rock in my life and I am certain that He won’t do anything bad to my heart. He my change it or mold it but all the while He is holding my hand and I know He loves my heart more than I can imagine.
So, why is this a problem? Why can’t I go on to live a happy, safe life alone with my God? Well, it doesn’t work. I tried it. I was miserable. God has not called us to be loaners. He wants us to be part of a community. This was apparent when he created Eve for Adam. God wants us to share our hearts with one another. He wants us to see the beauty of love in each other and share our joy.
As a child, when you share a toy, there are risks involved. It could get broken. It could get lost. It could be stolen. It may not be returned to you in the same condition in which you shared it. These are all the same risks we face when we share our hearts with one another. We could be hurt. We could be changed. We could be lead down a path we did not want to take. We may not be the same after we have shared. So what is the payoff? What is all this hype about sharing our hearts? It could just be the joy of seeing God change someone else’s heart.
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