How Open-Hearted Are We?

When I was a child, more than one doctor or dentist's office we visited had a sample volume of a children's Bible in the waiting room. Perhaps you remember them? They were large, hardcover books with bright blue covers and color illustrations within. One illustration showed a blonde-haired Jesus knocking on a door. The door represented a child's heart.

Leaving behind the questions that image might raise, imagine that our hearts are like a door. Not the blood-pumping, life-sustaining organ in our chest, but the seat of our soul and spirit as a human being. A closed mind can be a dangerous thing. A closed heart invites empathy . . . or pity.

We are not born with our hearts closed. (Our minds either, for that matter.) Something happens. An event, most likely caused by another person – someone close enough to do real damage – and the door to our heart closes just a bit.

With a completely open heart at one end, and a completely closed and dysfunctional heart at the other, most of us fall somewhere in between.

Are you up for a bit of self-analysis? On a scale of 1 (closed) to 10 (open) where was your heart 20 years ago? Ten years ago? Yesterday? And, more importantly, where would you like it to be?