A Person's Heart is Like a Home

A person's heart is like a home. It's very personal and sometimes messy. They try to clean it up really fast when people are coming over. Just like I stuff my dirty clothes in the closet when someone is coming over, so do people tend to hide their "dirty clothes" in their lives when someone asks about them. The more I get to know someone, I slowly get a better glimpse inside their "home." Trust is built and they know that they don't have to hide their "dirty clothes" when I enter. I love getting to that point when I feel like they let me fully in and aren't hiding stuff. I feel like I can walk into the front door and be greeted with no regrets. That comes very slowly though. My thoughts lately have been on gentleness. Pastor Yates defined gentleness as "the power to strike hard but the maturity not to." I can see that play out in my life. My best friend and I were talking the other day about sensativity. We both know each other well enough to know where those touchy spots are and we know exactely how to tear each other down. Gentleness is knowing all that, but caring enough about the person enough not to. I am not the best at this. At times, in anger or even in play, I poke at those sensative spots. I've seen that manifest itself and I hate that. I never want to be someone that people have a hard time trusting. I want to be a person that people will eventually let into their "homes" and have a safe place to rest. I told the girls in the small group I'm co-leading, that I want them to feel like that is a safe place for them to open up. I want that in all my relationships. When I was younger I used to take that safe place for granted and would only not share something if they made me promise. These days I try to make my ears the stopping place for someone's trusted words. Like I said....It's a work in progress.