The Power to Wound, The Choice to Love

Dear Reader,

There is a difficult truth most of us eventually discover about ourselves.

We are capable of both kindness and selfishness. 
Compassion and resentment. 
Mercy and judgment.

At first this realization can feel discouraging. We want to believe goodness means the absence of darker thoughts and impulses. Yet human experience, recovery, and faith all suggest something deeper.

We are not made good because we are incapable of harm. 
We become good when we recognize the darkness within us and choose, day by day, to live by love instead.

There is no triumph in kindness when selfishness was never a temptation. Character is revealed when one has the strength to wound, yet chooses mercy.

The Apostle Paul seemed to understand this struggle within the human heart when he wrote:

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you… And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another…” 
— Epistle to the Ephesians 4:31–32

Notice Paul does not pretend bitterness and anger do not exist. 
He speaks to people who know these emotions well.

The invitation of the Gospel is not to deny our humanity, but to transform it.

This transformation often happens quietly in ordinary moments of life.

When we could speak harshly but remain gentle. 
When pride asks to be right, but love asks us to listen. 
When resentment begins to rise, yet we pause long enough to choose compassion instead. 

Perhaps this is why mercy is such a sacred thing.

Mercy is not weakness. 
It is strength disciplined by love.

An anonymous writer once observed:

“Blessed is the soul who knows its power to wound, yet chooses gentleness; who feels anger, yet seeks peace; who sees weakness within, yet walks daily in love.” 

To me, this is one of the clearest signs of spiritual growth and recovery.

Not perfection. 
Not pretending we are free from selfishness or fear. 
But becoming increasingly aware of what lives within us and choosing, one day at a time, to let kindness speak louder than anger. 

Maybe the truly good person is not someone untouched by darkness, but someone who has looked honestly at their own heart and still chooses love, acceptance, forgiveness, and peace.

🙏🧘‍♂️💕🤗☮️