“I am so wrapped up in the hurt I have received that I do not notice the hurt I inflict.”

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 55). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I appreciate John’s honesty in this thought. The total thought is, “The world diverts my soul-attention when it encourages me to think of myself more as a victim than as a human. I am so wrapped up in the hurt I have received that I do not notice the hurt I inflict.” And I know if we are also honest we could say the same thing about ourselves.

We get so self-focused but there are little things that we can do that can change this focus. He says, "A friend of mine sent me a few sentences from an article she saw online on 'How to Stay Christian in College': . . . make small sacrifices. Make a vow to wake up and go to breakfast every morning, even if your first class isn’t until eleven a.m. Choose a plain cheese pizza rather than pepperoni. You’ll be surprised how these tiny sacrifices work an interior magic, shifting your focus ever so slightly away from yourself. Once you’re a little bit to the side, God can come to the center."

He then says, "Underneath the hardness is often fear. The fear of being rejected. The fear of looking foolish. The fear of being hurt. The fear of broken pride. But souls can be saved when the soil gets soft. It takes a little, just a tiny little bit of softness in the soil to give the seed a chance. The seed is strong — stronger than you can imagine. One tiny seed can break up a sidewalk if it can find a little room to breathe."

Why not start today doing the small stuff that will heal your hurting heart and that will turn it from becoming a hard heart. That is where your pain can turn on the people you love. Don’t let it get to that point.

Also understand as John says, "The hardened soul is more vulnerable to being saved than it knows."

So what hurt is causing you to hurt others?

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