In the book Great Expectations, Charles Dickens paints a picture of love broken, twisted, and then reproduced. Elderly Miss Haversham had been the victim of great cruelty. At the cunning and revengeful hand of her scorned brother, her fiance left her at the altar on her wedding day. Her brokenness showed for a lifetime in her loneliness, her bitterness, her anger, and her caustic personality. More sorrowful yet was the reproduction of her unloving traits in the innocent child Estella she so profoundly influenced.
We, too, affect the lives and attitudes of those around us. If we allow past hurt to keep us from loving, we will suffer. But we will not suffer alone. Our actions will influence those around us. They will be reproduced in the lives of others.
But Jesus heals. If you are paralyzed and unable to love, Jesus heals. Every past hurt forgiven and presented to our Lord frees the fresh water of His love to flow through us. We experience the joy of love around us, and those we influence enjoy its benefits in their own lives.
