Quite a bomb-shell. Every person pretty much answered the same. That fact would destroy their faith. They would feel that they had been lied to, that the living God in Jesus was the reason they believed. I asked further if the words of Jesus would be any less true, any less meaningful if they had been spoken by someone else? Again the answer was unanimous - the words would be meaningless, regardless of how pretty, without the man.
I was stunned, if not suprized, by their answers. To me, the words are everything - what I learn, what becomes part of me, what I become, are all that's important. I've seen relationships fall apart, and even though the person wronged or hurt learned a great deal about themselves, and had opened up and loved, they chose to shut off all the positive aspects and then hate the person. They would state that they didn't really love that person, since the person turned out not to be what they hoped for.
I think we have a choice. Afterall, even when we're hurt, the person who is deceitful or hurtful is the one with the problem - not us. When we love, open ourselves to the potential of hurt, we can grow and deepen our feelings of love and peace. We can continue to hold the love and the lessons, even when the actions of another may hurt us. The disappointment in a person might remain, but our capacity to love and the lessons that brings are too valuable to throw away.
Looking within when we feel pain, and finding the root of why we hurt, but also the lesson it can contain is a choice we can have the courage to make.
