thoughtful thursday: expand our hearts

There's this blog I read called Enjoying the Small Things which inspires to me to take notice of the small things in life and really appreciate them. Kelle posted an email from a reader named Sarah on her blog today. Sarah, who is paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident in her early twenties, wrote Kelle to tell how her blog changed her life. I really liked this from Sarah's email and am going to bed still thinking about it.

Some people like to tell me that my injury, my paralysis, my illness, they are all a part of a plan, particularly God's plan. That everything in my life has a reason and only He knows why. Well, I tend to find that a ridiculous thing to say. I find it very difficult to believe that hurt, pain, rape, murder, disability, war, and many other awful things are all a part of a plan. As far as I know and understand, God is love. Whenever love is present, so is God. God is inside of us all. When our hearts expand and more love blossoms, we are finding and experiencing God. When something tragic happens instead of being a part of a master plan, I believe it is just one more way we can expand our hearts. We are all a part of the human experience and with this experience comes many, many things we can not control...some good and some bad. Instead of analyzing them and figuring out why they occur, we would be much better off expanding our hearts and realizing all of the other people who share similar circumstances. We would be better off being a little bit easier on people we are frustrated with because who knows what he or she is going through or has been through. We must become more gentle and less tough.


Sarah has started her own blog to inspire others at Sarah Sitting Down.