If you will start
To reveal your heart
You’ll soon discover
That people aren’t
Very far apart.

Open hearted interaction with people creates beautiful interpersonal connections. Privacy prevents them. Fear of pain or rejection prevents many people from experiencing the daily joys of an open heart.

A closed heart is emotionally blind. When you open your heart, you begin to understand much that’s hidden from your mind. If you think you don’t feel things deeply, that’s because your heart’s on lockdown. Open up and see how deep your feelings go.

To deeply care and to sincerely share requires an open heart. A closed heart can only pretend. Having a closed heart may seem like a safe way to live, but all it really does is keep you in solitary confinement with your own misery.

You can’t receive or give love when your heart is closed. Regardless of the love language people use, a shut-down heart can’t truly understand it.

When I encountered the living Jesus, I opened my heart and began to worship Him like the wise men in the Christmas story. Like the shepherds in Bethlehem, I experienced the glory of God and began to passionately spread the news about Jesus everywhere. Throughout life’s pains and gains I’ve discovered than an open-heart encounters God’s love and comfort everywhere.

The Christmas story invites us all to open our heart to Jesus and to each other, but fear and distraction tell us to keep it closed. Our society trains us to protect our heart not to open it up to others, thus creating much isolation and loneliness.

King Herod in Jerusalem said he wanted to worship Jesus but closed his heart and tried to kill Him. The innkeeper in Bethlehem was too busy and distracted to open His heart and make room for Jesus.

Senior citizens Simeon and Anna had longed to see Jesus all their life. When they met Him, they spoke tender words from their heart. Jesus our Emmanuel is now here to open our hearts and connect us with God and with each other. Surrender your resistance and rejoice. To a closed heart it feels like God is nowhere but an open-heart experiences God as now here!

We humans have the choice to open or close our heart. Openhearted people in the Christmas story got visibly excited about the living Jesus; the closed hearted ignored or resisted Him. Even today it’s easy to spot whose heart is open and whose is closed.