About loving others more than
loving self…
Matthew 10:8 Freely you
have received, freely give. (NIV)
Matthew 9:36 When he saw
the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd. (NIV)
We
are the multitudes. Please hear our cry. We want to think of others but we
cannot because we can only think of ourselves. We want to help others but we
cannot because we cannot help ourselves. We want to reach out to others but we
cannot because we cannot reach past ourselves to give away who and what we are.
We want love but we cannot get far enough outside of ourselves to take the risk
love requires. We wrap our arms around loved ones but we feel no love. We leave
people and lives behind us without a thought except our own regret. Then, when
reality hits us we realize we made a mistake. We want others, but because we are
trapped within ourselves, we do not see them. Although we see others with our
eyes, they are not there. We know others but they are strangers. We recognize
others but they do not exist. We are the multitudes. Please hear our cry.
If you are
one of the multitudes, you are loved and you can express love. You can express
love for others. You can experience love in return. The key to giving and
receiving love is unlocking the door of your heart. Very often, for reasons as
numerous as the stars, people lock the door of their heart. Then they think they
cannot open the locked door. Sometimes in this life we lose people, we lose
relationships, we lose opportunities, and we lose in various facets of our life.
Very often our life seems to continue to lose, and lose, and lose. In the times
of our loss, shutting tight the door of our heart is easy because our heart is
where the hurt resides. However, when we shut the door of our heart, we cannot
reach out. Behind our closed door we cannot love. We cannot permit ourselves to
be loved. Even in our worst hurt, keeping the door of our heart open permits our
hurt to fade away. An open heart to God permits God to heal the hurt within.
When we open the door of our heart and let God come in, all the old hurts vanish
as He touches the hurt of our heart and He heals us.
