It is so painful to open that abscess in the heart, the one that is a secret (or not so secret) disagreement or resentment, intertwined with something or someone we love or are supposed to love.
Words fly; accusations abound. Is there a way through this maze of hurt and confusion?
It can happen in marriages, among siblings, with friends--even very good friends, and throughout workplaces or other places in which people gather and share life:
In places where relationships are in close proximity, with a measure of love, an abscess of hate can develop.It can be an abscess of disagreement that has turned hostile. What began as healthy discussion with differing views disintegrates into accusation and hate.
Even harder to detect in the heart is the abscess of resentment. One minute the climate of the relationship is sunny and moving; the next minute thoughts of resentment creep in without warning. Time spent nurturing resentment grows the abscess.
Resentment that is allowed to prosper can become full-blown contempt. Sometimes all this happens in the private world of the mind and turns into an deep abscess of secret contempt.
In the places where we love or are supposed to love, this lining of abscess needs healing.
We grieve God with our abscesses because he knows how to heal them but we won't let go.
An abscessed tooth needs intervention by a professional; an abscessed heart is even more in need of the only professional who can see what lurks in the lining. God sees what we try to hide and harbor.
Love lined with hate may be, in God's view, only hate.
Loving God in one breath and warring with someone in the next will drive the believer's heart crazy.
Better to relinquish the seeds of hate.
Comments are welcome at feedyourstrength@gmail.com.
