It seems that we've all suffered a broken heart at one time or another. The pain that it causes and brings is horrific. Few, if anyone, ever wants to go through that again. So how do you prevent it? And if we can actually do that, is it a good thing?
The only sure way to prevent a broken heart is to isolate yourself 100% from every human being on the planet. It will be people who break your heart. However, attempting to stay away from people, leads to an even greater problem:
A cold heart.
If you interact with people at all, you'll wind up having your heart broken at some stage of your life. This is because loving people makes you vulnerable to them. The more people you love, the more likely you'll have your heart broken. Think about it, the people who have hurt you the most are also the people you claim to have loved the most.
Strangers can't hurt you like a spouse can, or a parent can, or a child can, or a friend can. It is the people that you have surrounded yourself with that you have chosen to love that have the greatest capacity to hurt you. So, you'll get hurt. It may be intentionally, or unintentionally, but hurt you shall be.
The alternative is to never love anyone, never interact with people, or become a hermit or something. The problem with doing that is you develop a cold heart. Never loving people means that your heart is cold. A cold heart does more damage to your thinking, your outlook on life, and your enjoyment of life than a broken heart can ever do.
I would rather love and have my heart broken than never love and never have my heart broken.
The ramifications of a cold heart far outweigh the ramifications of a broken heart. If I love plenty of people, I will always have people to resort to when someone else breaks my heart. I can heal quicker from a broken heart than a person can heal from a cold heart.
God, I believe, meant for us to have enjoyment from the relationships in our life. Material wealth is not the source of happiness and joy that God intended for us to have. It is within these relationships that God gives us the ability to love life. To isolate yourself from these relationships leaves you empty, cold, and alone. You'll hate life if you attempt to so isolate yourself that you never have a broken heart again.
Those are your choices. Of the two, a broken heart is so much more preferable than a cold one. A broken heart can be mended, but a cold heart has not source of heat to heat it up.
Greg S. Baker is a Pastor, Counselor, and Author specializing in building and strengthening relationships.
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