Following the singing of a hymn which repeated a line about our hardened heart at church this morning, our pastor spoke about how the same circumstance that hardens the heart of some of us actually softens the heart of others. He described how if we drop an egg in a pot of boiling water, it becomes hard--a hard-boiled egg. A potato dropped in the same pot of boiling water becomes soft and malleable.
Unfortunately, I fear that my heart has hardened. I am not sure when it happened, this hard heart of mine: I know it used to be soft and open. I think I know how it happened.
When I had a soft and open heart, I trusted easily. I think that too many times I trusted those who were not trustworthy. With each injury, my heart hardened just a little bit until suddenly one day I realized it was hard...and I have no idea how to soften it again. I want to. The next time something drops onto my heart, how can I assure that it is soft like the potato instead of hard like a cooked egg?
I don't have the answer but I know in my heart that I want it to be so. I am sure that having the intention--knowing that having a soft heart is written on the back side of my heart--is the first step. Then, bringing consciousness to every encounter, will gradually soften it's hard edges.
I fear that our world has become over-populated by hard hearts bumping into each other instead of soft ones, opening and melding with others. Now that I am aware of my own hard heart, I no longer want to be part of that hard-hearted world. Like a couple that our pastor described, I think that I shall begin praying to become a potato.
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