It was incredibly cold when I went running this morning, reminding me that my days of running outside are quickly coming to an end. Twenty-eight degrees. With a slight wind in the air, the harsh cold hit my face like an abrupt slap. Everything in me wanted to turn around and head back into my nice warm bed.
The good thing about running in the cold is that, at some point, your legs become numb and you lose any sensation of pain. Until you walk into the warmth of the house and realize, as things begin to thaw, that your body does hurt a little after all.
Warmth. It melts things. Thaws things. Invites things in. It soothes things. And sometimes it brings things to the surface that had become numb. I experienced all of these things when I jumped into the hot shower after my run. I didn’t want to leave that place of warmth.
This world can be a cold place sometimes. Even bitter cold. Harsh circumstances or harsh people. Realities that can chill us to the bone. And, if we’re not careful, can numb us to block out the pain. Every person we meet has experienced, at some level, the effects of this cold. Some are walking around numb, afraid to face the true effects that the iciness has left in their hearts.
Warmth is needed in all of our lives. And once we’ve experienced it, we need to extend that warmth to others. To help them melt and thaw, possibly exposing their pain, but giving that pain a chance at healing because it is in a safe, warm environment. What we sometimes see as hard, cold, difficult people are often people who have been affected and hurt by the cold and haven’t experienced the miraculous power of a warm heart reaching out to them.
I hope that today I can be gentle with those I come in contact with. Especially the ones who rub me the wrong way. I hope that the rubbing only produces the sparks that come from a warm heart. Jesus, please let my life be a warm fire where others can come to warm their hands and melt their hearts. And please, please, never stop melting my heart with love for You and for others….
Philippians 4:5 – Let your gentleness be evident to ALL. The Lord is near…
