May I please have some of your trash?

Our hearts are so very much the same in matters of how they work and how they “work”. All hearts pump blood and oxygen to our organs and limbs to keep us alive but the emotional circumstances of our lives cause the human heart to either thrive or die universal the same regardless of culture, beliefs, sex, class, color, or  creed.  Our hearts are filled with laughter, joy, peace, darkness, sadness, and offensive just a similar as our hearts beat and pump blood.

My heart is one that fights for justice! I want all things, conditions, and opportunities to be fair and equal among all people. I fight for the underdog with a fierce tenaciousness knowing accountability is a first and true path to change. I’m the person you’d hear say, “Well, what do you think was going to happen”, as opposed to a soothing touchy-feely statement. Life, for me, is black and white with grey all over!

 So, I had to laugh a joyful but nervous laugh when I see this same heart developing in my oldest son. He defends, protects, and brings home every ragamuffin he comes in contact with. His heart can hardly stand seeing someone being mistreated, left out, or ostracized. And he attacks with the same vigorous bite that I do.

My heart is filled with a passionate pride because I get it! I mean I really get it! I have another tangible and unshakeable connection with my child, and one that I easily understand; we see things the same way and we speak the same language. Easy-peasy; however, I also know the trials, burdens, and potential sin that follows a heart bound for justice. With all spiritual gifts, we have to fight the temptation to sin in them, which is easier said than done.

At every chance and every season, I try to impart my wisdom to this child and pray that he receives it. A justice heart is one that tends to be easily offended, not for ourselves, but for those who we want to protect. Our heart easily pick up an offense, and we experience it very deeply chewing on it until it becomes mush in our mouths, then we swallow it like a backed-up bile restlessly digesting it, taking on the offense as if the unkind act was committed to us directly.  We own that offense on such a deep and personal level that it enables us to seek and destroy with tremendous vengeance and intense accuracy. This protection and defense is unhealthy on every level, and a justice heart must continually assess and protect itself from offense.

So I was attempting to explain this to my teen aged son, trying to get down to his level of thinking and life experience. And after several failed attempts to draw a connection, I have an epiphany; trash!! So I say to my dear boy, “Son, picking up another’s offense is like going into that persons house, digging through their trash, taking it home, and putting it on a display case as if some kind of trophy. His face contorts in disgust, and I know I’ve hit that sweet spot of true understanding. Protecting others is important but we mustn’t become so involved that it destroys who we are and/or it causes us to partner up with sin.   

It’s a tricky road, and one that most do not understand. I encourage him to rely on God to develop that justice in his heart, that only through God can we do the most good to effect change in this turbulent world. Justice is the hardest road to walk as justice is always seen as a heart without compassion or love but I tell you now that it takes more love and compassion to discipline then it does to cuddle. I warn him that people will tell him that his heart is hard and full of callousness but the truth is, a justice heart is the most tender and delicate heart around. It loves deeply, it challenges with determined zealousness, and it never ever, not even in a million years, gives up believing in the greater good.