Pretty Days And Hurricanes - All You Need Is Love Series Sample

The Progression

In a devotional written by Billy Graham, he asks, “Why is there so little peace in a world of unprecedented knowledge and unlimited potential?” The problem is what Jesus said about the human heart, which is that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, adultery, and murder. It is a progression of how you get to a hurricane of hate. In your own relationship, you might often ask yourself, “How did I get here?” You used to be so in love and so kind to each other, but now all you do is argue or resent your spouse. Or the progression could be with your dream job that you prayed for and loved at the beginning, but now you dread going to work and only look forward to retiring. 

We get to Hurricane Hate in stages. It is a progression, just like real hurricanes. The first stage is frustration. Life is filled with frustrations. You will never stop the progression if you constantly repeat negative thoughts. “I don’t like school.” “I just need to get a job to stop feeling like this.” Talk to any adult and they will tell you to stay in school. If you are single and believe marriage will stop the frustration, let me tell you that frustrations continue in marriage. Frustration is simply part of life. 

Frustrations then move to anger. We even build anger at God, believing He owes us something. Andy Stanley, in his book Enemies of the Heart, says, “Anger is when you begin to say, ‘You owe me.’” You can develop anger towards a friend or job thinking that they owe you something. Your friend owes you time. Your job owes you a pay raise. 

After anger comes indifference, which is really dangerous. This is when we begin to not care. “Fine, I don’t care!” We do not care about our marriage or job. We become careless with our relationships. It is an “I don’t care” attitude. 

Indifference moves to resentment. Resentment is when you begin to stew and brew. You increase your negative thoughts about your spouse, job, children, or whatever is building this hurricane. “Nobody appreciates the work I do at this job.” “My wife never thanks me.” “My husband always does this or that.” “God, why are you giving me this, when you knew I wanted that?”

It is out of the heart that this storm begins to build in us. Nothing happens overnight. It is a progression.  If we do not take care of our hearts, we will get to Hurricane Hate. It is only through God’s love that our hearts are transformed.