“Manipulator” (career attraction.com)
Thought for the Week: Using Others Wounds Our Souls
“Have you ever manipulated someone, and then felt remorse? Did you fix that bridge? Or did you burn it?” ~The Wishing Map
We were created for something better than merely using one another for our own temporal ends. Therefore, living as if we were not proves to be futile, pointless, and destructive. Apart from the more twisted souls among us, does anyone ever actually wish on their death bed that they’d manipulated more people, gotten their way more often?
We’re Wired to Believe..
…that we’re something more, and to find out what that something is. And we’re wired to share the journey of, as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin calls it, “spiritual beings having a human experience.” In fact, ultimately our human experience is communal, it can’t be lived alone.
Which is why using others, as natural as it may be to our fleshly nature, is counterproductive to our ultimate purpose. When we place stones in our fellow travelers’ paths, we are the ones who trip over them.
So let us remove those stones, ask forgiveness, fix the bridge. It may take years, it may leave scars, but it will be worth it. And then let us press on…
Together.
Your reflection echoes a deep Kingdom truth: whenever we treat people as tools instead of image‑bearers, we fracture our own souls. Jesus calls us to repair what we’ve broken, to remove the stones we’ve placed in others’ paths, and to walk together in the kind of love that actually heals. Thank you for pointing us back to the better way.
And thank you, as always, for your thoughtful reflection, Michael.
Excellent post and reminder of how we should live.
🧡
Well said.
Thanks, Andrew.
You’re welcome, Mitch.
I totally agree that we were not meant to walk this journey alone. God is the God of relationship and restoration. There is an inherent inclination in us for this purpose. Thank you for sharing, Mitch. As always, needed encouragement.
My privilege, San.
Well said, Mitch.
Thank you, T.
sometimes we need to have a reminder
As I was always taught and passed down to my children: Love people and use things, not the other way around.
Amen, Annie!