Broken Beyond Healing

Proverbs 29:1 He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
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It seems to me that we often only learn the things we are willing to learn. Obvious? Perhaps. But here is the thing which captures my attention right now: the intersention between the will and the heart, or the will and the mind. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was/is to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind and strength. Loosely (because I am not taking the time to do a word study just yet) I read this to be love which requires the mind, the emotions and the will, in unison. In other words - everything about us which is human must be turned towards God in an act of love. This is what we were created to enjoy. This is who we were created to be. It is our highest calling and greatest mode of existence - Love. One of the things which Love does in our lives is make us capable of being corrected, by God and by others. When we know we are loved, we are able to open ourselves to honest input. When we know we are safe in a loving community, we are able to be more truly ourselves. But love is also hard on us in the sense that it won't alloow us to be lazy. God's love is rigorous and inspires others to live rigorously. I am praying that my local community would be so full of love that we would be able to open up to eachother and at the same time, spur eachother on to do awesome stuff. The alternative is really not pleasant. If we neglect to live lives of love and close ourselves off to the possibility of honest community, we will eventually be broken. And yet, if you are reading this and you feel broken, I suspect that there is still healing waiting for you. I think the crux of the Proverb here is that those who refuse healing will not be healed. Sad, but true.