What Does Being Good Mean?

Alexandre Dumas once wrote, "We are not truly generous and good save from the moment when the eye has become hardened and the heart remains tender."

But we can't do that on our own, can we? Someone hurts us, and we hold a grudge, and even when we forgive, we don't trust them again, and sometimes not even ourselves. We see the evil around us and wonder at how people can be the way they are...before we go off and do things that make them wonder the same about us.

I don't believe that people are inherently malicious, just inherently selfish. Our malice comes from our pain, and our pain comes from the clash between other people's greed and our own.

I know how hypocritical I am, getting angry with others for what they've done to me. Some of my anger would be justified, according to the world's system, for they have wronged me when I've been good, or at least neutral, to them. But I'm hypocritical because I know that I've offended others, caused others to lose trust in me and, by extension, lose a little of the trust they have in mankind.

And it's precisely because we're so far from perfect and have so little trust in mankind that our trust should be elsewhere. We spend so much time and energy worrying about what others think of us and trying to earn their acceptance, and so much more time and energy judging those who are not like us. So little time seeking God and asking Him to soften our hearts.

God, please help me through my hurts. I know this world has pain in it, but I also know that You are strong enough to see me through anything You allow to happen to me. Please help me realize in my heart that You are bigger than those who have offended me, that You are in control of everything and not them, and that even I can't mess up my life so badly that You can't fix it. And, Lord, help me to not cause pain to others or make them distrust people. Help me to be a sign post that points the way to you. Help me to understand why they do what they do and want to help them no matter what they do to me. My eyes are becoming hardened, God, please keep my heart tender.