The Perfect Heart...

[Deb]

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.

A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was
perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it
truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man
was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly an old man in front of the crowd said "Why your heart is
not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked
at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it
had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but
they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In
fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were
missing. The people stared - how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought?

The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and
laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine,
mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."

"Yes," said the old man, "Yours is perfect looking but I would never
trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have
given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them,
and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the
empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have
some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared.

Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person
hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges
- giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful,
they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too,
and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting.
So now do you see what true beauty is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He
walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful
heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with
trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his
heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it
in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as
there were some jagged edges.

The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more
beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into
his. They embraced and walked away side by side.

~~Author Unknown

[Deb]

Oh sweetie, I struggle each and every day and I pray for a renewed strength and faith each day. I am far from where I want to be in my walk with the Lord. We, you, I and every other Christian out there will always be a work in progress, but I know that if I follow the will of God, then I am pleasing my Father and this is all I truly want to do... and you too have that same want.

I love you too Jo... the lady, the friend, the heart, the Christian, the person... *hugz*

[JoBeth]

You my friend are the Christian I hope to be someday... I love you so much Sands... Thanks so much for being her for me. hugs

[Deb]

You know, this post... "The Perfect Heart" just hit so close to home...not just in my own personal life, but in the lives of so many of those I love...my friends... you, Jo, Sinn, Kacie, Cina, DDD...and the list goes on... each and every one has such a caring and giving heart... only to get heartache in return... and it just reminded me so much how important it is to continue loving and giving and caring...no matter what... :)