Open Your Heart

Dearest Daughter,

This is the first day of the new year.  Yet another day has come to be.  I look outside at the beauty of the world and have to be grateful that I get to spend another day on this earth.  Saying this is not always easy.  Some days, I feel disappointed or frustrated with my situation or even hurt from things other people have said to me. Recently, I had some hurtful things said to me by people in my life who should be encouraging me and lifting me up.  Even when that happens…even when I am still hurting from their actions… I can say that I am grateful because I know that the people who said hurtful things are only human and as humans, we can make mistakes and say hurtful things that we don’t mean.  So, I start the process of forgiveness and do my best to face the new day with hope that the sunrise provides.

This is a good subject to talk about though because when people say or do things that are hurtful, we want to react to the pain that is brought in our lives.  I think that is natural.  I also think it is okay to react.  What gets messy is when our immediate reaction to the hurt turns into a carrying of the pain like a burden that stays with us day after day.  That burden affects our long-term decisions and sometimes propels us into actions that will only cause us much more harm in the end.  When that starts to happy, you need to cut the cycle so it doesn’t fester into more than it actually is.  My method is to move past the pain to forgiveness.  Forgiving is not easy.  I find strength to forgive from God.

I know that you have experienced hurtful things being said to you and about you in the past.  I have helped you many times with small things that a child experiences.  You conquered those hurts and in many ways grew into the person you are because of them.  As you grow older, you are bound to face more difficult challenges.

Already during the past few years you have experienced hurt from friends who were supposed to protect you.  I realize now that these actions are causing you to be guarded with what you share and who you open up to in life.  I think this is a good time for you to look back at those moments and make some changes. I can see a cycle starting that I want to help you out of. I want to urge you to look deep inside to find the hurt that started this cycle and open your heart up to healing that hurt.  Please remind yourself that not everyone is going to betray your confidence.  To be guarded and hold back because of things that happened to cause you hurt in the past will only offer opportunities for shallow relationships in the future.  That might be a safe way to have relationships but I believe it is not the best way to experience them.

Please try a little each day to step outside of your comfort zone and experience life even if the experience brings pain.  Share with others who come into your life.  Give to those who don’t deserve it.  Love those who cannot love you back.  Open your heart to sharing your love knowing that it is possible that one day someone may betray you but it is also possible that you will find a lifelong friend who will be there with you until the end.

I love you my sweet daughter.  I hope that you will consider these things and know that you are special and important and will do great things on this earth.

Love,

Mommy

Consider this:

Have you ever been faced with a friend betraying something you shared that was to be private?  How did you react?  Looking back on that reaction, would you do anything differently now?  If so, what would you do?  I would love to have comments posted to help encourage my daughter and others who follow this blog.  Please write what your thoughts are in the comments section.