“Every relationship has griefs. But we can choose not to let these harden into grievances.”

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2012-03-13) from his book, What Matters Most: How We Got the Point but Missed the Person (Kindle Locations 2653-2654). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

That is where love comes in, at least the love that comes from a relationship with Christ.  Now each relationship has a two-sided story and God’s loves strives to listen to their story and connect with their story.  That is where the hardening or softening comes in.  His love strives to listen, understand and forgive and in turn keeps one’s heart soft.  It’s in making it a one-side story in which you have been wronged that it can turn hard.

My story has a period where my heart became hard.  I was looking at everything from my needs, my desires and my wants and not acknowledging that Margaret, Brett and Stefanie had stories of needs, desires and wants.  My self-centered living brought great pain into my family and eventually a protected hardness in my wife.  It didn’t change until we changed location, job, and focus.  God brought healing after an acceptance of His love back into our lives.  We found that we could not live a life of selflessness without His love.  His love is the only love that is other focused and that gives us the power to bridge the gap to listen and be involved in each other’s stories.

I hope that you have experienced His love.  His love will make a difference in your relationships.  None of us are perfect and we will bring grief into each other’s lives.  Avail yourself of His love so you will have the ability and power to choose not to be hardened by those grievances.  It is your choice. 

So how have you been handling your grief?