The severed heartstrings, which once joined souls together, now lie detached and motionless with no more force to tie the two together. Choose your battles wisely, they say, for not every battle is worth fighting. As true as the saying is, on the other side of it is also the fact that if you are still fighting, then you are probably still loving.
Sometimes the danger is when there is no more fight left and no more words to say. Being designed innately different in our characteristics and personalities, it is inevitable that every now and again we would clash in our world point of views and personalities. When the emotions are invested, they tug at the heartstrings and demand a reaction – be it of love or of anger. And should the feelings of anger be aroused, this can culminate in a fight. Not a physical or abusive fight, but a fight in the quintessence of the soul’s strings, fighting to remain attached and fighting for the relationship.
When the strings are connected, and one still cares, you talk about it. But when the strings are severed, and the emotions become disengaged, the line of communication is broken. The day to be weary is the day when the emotions fail to tug the heartstrings. For when this day comes, the one with the severed strings, too tired to fight, will flee just as Jonah tried to flee from the Lord (Jonah 1). Jonah is a man in the Old Testament who once was passionate to see the destruction of Nineveh.
As displaced as his passion was, when he cared for this unrighteous outcome, he talked and argued with God about this (Jonah 4). But when the day came when he could no longer be concerned for the Nineveh’s outcome, and his emotions failed to tug his heartstrings – the day when he stopped caring – he ran away from God’s will (Jonah 1; Jonah 4:1–2).
The healing power of communication should never be underestimated, for issues unresolved leave holes and wounds unmended. Healthy relationships are built on the ability to talk about issues. But when communicating, as James 1:19 says, we must be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
Where is there passion, emotions are bound to arise. Even Jesus had righteous anger (Mark 11:15). But in the heat of the moment the one who wins the fight, even in losing the war of words, is the one who fights fair without going for the jugular, for this one never has to live with the haunted mind of the words that can never be taken back.
©Katie Mliswa and MomentsbyKatie.M, 2018.
