Tin Man Syndrome
In the movie, The Wizard of Oz, the tin man claims to have no heart. He sings a sad song about the misery of not having a heart. He wants a heart but he feels like he doesn’t have one. There are times I feel like the tin man. Someone shares a heart wrenching story with me about what they are going through and for some reason I can’t seem to engage my heart the way I want to. I see an urgent prayer request and although I pray over it my heart feels numb. On those occasions I wonder about myself. I think “Steve, what's going on with you? Why does it feel like I have a heart of stone?”
The Bible has much to say about our hearts. Let’s start with the bad news about our hearts. Jeremiah the prophet said in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” I get where Jeremiah is coming from. If you know the story of Jeremiah then you know he got kicked around a lot. He definitely saw the worst part of humanity. Could it be that the reason we sometimes get disconnected from our heart is because we too have experienced rejection, heartache, betrayal, and the worst kind of behavior from those we trusted? Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from your heart.”
The tin man didn’t realize he had a heart until he met the wizard of Oz. In this life we will experience a lot of things that can damage our heart on a spiritual and emotional level. The question is, how do we get our hearts back? If we take our relationship with Jesus seriously we know we can’t isolate ourselves from people so as to protect our hearts from everyone. Even though it’s risky we need to open our hearts to those around us.
I’m going to make a statement and I hope you hear it the right way. I’m not trying to make people feel sorry for me. In fact, that’s the last thing I want. I have been a pastor and spiritual leader for decades. Being a spiritual leader is a high calling and a privilege. However the downside of being a spiritual leader is it sets you up to be hurt over and over again. I have been betrayed, rejected, badmouthed, and abused by people that claimed to be my friends. It comes with the territory as they say. You might rightfully ask, how do you keep your heart from getting hard or how are you able to trust people after being hurt so many times? The answer is, apart from God it would be impossible. I would have a heart of stone. When my heart feels disconnected from others I take it to Jesus. He is the only one who can heal my heart.
They say time heals and to some degree that’s true but I prefer to have my heart healed sooner than later. How about you? I don’t have enough time in this life to walk around nursing a messed up heart. If you suffer from the tin man syndrome, you don’t need to go to the wizard of Oz to find your heart. Go to the one who created your heart. He knows how to restore it and heal it. Also, talk to someone you trust about how you are feeling. I find that talking to someone about how I feel is part of the healing process.
Love and blessings,
Steve