Bleeding Out
Did you ever say something you wish you hadn't?
The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. - Luke 6:45
Where do the words come from when we say something intentionally hurtful?
In today's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples we speak from the heart. It is as if the heart is so filled with either good or evil, that it spills out the mouth.
Of course we don't often regret having said something good. It is the bad stuff we wish we had kept to ourselves.
Yet I think regret may be a sign that the heart is not filled with evil, or at least that it doesn't want to be. If we regret what we say, we must have some good in us somewhere. right?
Where else could it reside, if not in the heart?
So, is it possible that those who let evil spill out of them could also have good in their hearts? Does it need to be all one or the other?
We like to think it is so, because it makes it easy for us to judge people. He is good or bad. Just listen to what they say.
But what if the good gets trapped behind the bad? What if we let our hearts fill up with evil and it buries all the good so it can't come out?
I think this is what we are experiencing today. Behind the harsh words we hear people speaking and texting to each other, there could be hearts filled with good, but blocked by evil feelings, emotions and anger.
Maybe we all need to bleed out the bad and let the good come forth.
It is painful, I know, but we will not get to the good if the evil continues to take hold of our hearts.
In Jesus' day, it was easier to release people from the evil in them. They were thought to be possessed by demons which could be set free.
If we could borrow from that thinking, perhaps we can let the hatred and anger that produces evil thoughts and deeds go free.
But of course, we would have to believe there is good in all of us, and we may be too far along to think that.
More to come...