Ceilings That Limit Us

In graduate school for teaching reading, I was fascinated to learn that a child's ability to read silently and comprehend corresponds to his ability to interact in conversation. In other words, his ability to speak and listen is a ceiling on his ability to read and comprehend. Solution: more development of oral language skills.

So do ceilings affect us in other areas? What if our love intake is the ceiling to our interacting with the world? Love intake means how we receive love from others and from God. It is risky to let ourselves be loved by people because it is always imperfect, often hurtful at times, and needs our vulnerability to let it happen. Though love from God is perfect, we often have doubt and misinformation about that love that acts as a barrier to us receiving it.

Maybe you know someone who is "anorexic" in receiving love. Though love hovers all around that person, there is an invisible ceiling that stops it from being absorbed in his/her heart. Love is the nutrition of our heart, so much like an anorexic rejects food, a love anorexic has a mindset that pushes away love. Somehow there is the idea that he/she is so unlovable and undeserving that the ceiling creates a starved heart.

In our quest this month to get rid of STUFF, maybe the most powerful place to work is with our love intake. Ponder if you are able to receive all the love that hovers around you from family, friends and God. In the next post, we will explore steps to raise the ceiling and feed our strength by feeding our hearts.