The Human Heart

I woke up last night around 3 am to the sound of a man and a woman fighting. I could not make out their words but I could hear their voices: loud than louder, growing quiet and than growing loud again. I laid there incapable of sleep thinking of the human heart. I thought of this couple (I assumed they were a couple) and how much they must need each other's love (who else would fight with such passion?). I thought about how we humans struggle to love each other. There is so much that comes between us and the people we want to love (our clumsiness, our selfishness, our brokenness).

I got up from my bed and sat near the window. I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and prayed. I prayed that God would give the couple the love they needed. I prayed that God would calm them down (I did want sleep!). I prayed that they would be given the gift of unselfishness (this is what God's saves us from--our selfishness) and given the power to love.

Their voices died out around 4 am. I had crawled back in bed by then and I drifted back to sleep. It was a peaceful sleep. I slept thinking not of anger but of love and a God who was bigger than two people fighting.