One person's reason for entering into suffering

"Heightened sensitivity plays an important role for Christ followers. Like pain that draws our hand out of a fire or propels us to seek life-saving medical care, a global-sized conscience is a great gift. Being bothered is the alarm the soul sends out to keep a potential world-engager tender. It calls us to learn to be other-absorbed instead of self-absorbed, self-sacrificing instead of hedonistic. There is something of the Holy Spirit's presence that is bothering, troubling, and painfully sensitizing. He is the soul's best friend- the truthful one who gives it to us straight. Without attention to that disturbing pull, I fear what I might become. Not only for others but for my own sake, I am learning to seek increased sensitivity; to file down the distancing, deadening callous that buffers me from others whom God loves; to welcome the pain that comes while listening to the voice of discomfort. " - Kathryn Bell