Difference Between Heart and Head

I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in Beit Lehem (Bethlehem), Israel. I wanted to experience the celebration of Christmas where it all started. Due to the fact that Beit Lehem is now in the Palestinian Authority Area, it is not a safe place to be alone. I signed up for a tour group that left from Jerusalem and was escorted by an arab tour guide for the celebration. As in Jerusalem and the rest of Israel, there were many soldiers carrying automatic weapons.

The experience I had there, including being in the manger at midnight on Christmas Eve, was awesome. To be in the energy of all those people who place such hope and joy in the Christ child was truly enlightening. When the bells stopped ringing at midnight, our tour group went outside to the Manger Square to regroup. This was at approximately 12:20AM. Apparently six of the group ignored instructions to stay together and went into the Catholic Mass which was not over until 2AM. We had to wait from 12:30AM until 2AM for them to rejoin the group. Most of our group was very unhappy about having to wait and wanted the tour guide to leave the stragglers behind. After all, they had ignored instructions and were forcing the group to be hours late in returning to their hotel rooms in Jerusalem. The guide asked me what I thought and I told him to wait, which is what he wanted to do. When the "lost sheep" finally returned, they were met with great hostility by the group. The guide could not understand why the group were so angry and why they did not want to wait. After all, weren't they part of the group? I told the guide that was the difference between having God in your heart and having God in your head. Compassion, patience and forgiveness are all signs that God lives in the heart. It was also very interesting that the guide, who felt responsible for all of his "flock" was an Arab, and the group ,which wanted to abandon the "lost sheep" were Christian.