Imagine someone told you that since they ate a lousy meal when they expected it to be great, they have decided never to eat again. "The last time I ate, it was terrible; I will not risk that happening again. No way, I am smarter now."
All of us have been hurt by people. Our temptation is to respond to our hurts by closing off our lives from others. We don't want to allow ourselves to be vulnerable again to the same pain. What we forget is that the risk and pain of non-community is even more serious than the risk and pain of community.
“Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.”
-C.S. Lewis
A lot of us have had a bad experience at church, with a friend, or in a small group, and now we avoid those things altogether. Why not give it another go? Go ahead and eat again, even if you have had a rotten meal once in awhile. You'll be glad you did.
