A MATTER OF THE HEART

Where I live, the cold weather has ushered in this month of February. For many, the frigid temperatures are despised, and those people are impatiently awaiting the arrival of spring. Not I! I am more than content with the winter weather. In fact, I revel in it.

But February. Ah, February. It is the month designated for lovers and loved ones. Valentine's Day resides in this month. Is that not enough to warm you when you are bemoaning yet more snow or howling winds?

 

I think throughout this month, the majority of my journal entries will be about the heart. It is fitting, methinks. That idea came to me moments ago while I was thinking about hearts. Broken hearts, in particular.

 

No matter our ages, no one has escaped having a piece of their heart ripped away. Some people experience it more than others. Some frequently do the destroying; others do the healing. How often have we felt our hearts have been torn apart? Perhaps losing someone we desperately loved, or maybe when something caused terrible distress for our children. Our hearts feel that pain. We may think we shall never recover from the agonizing hurt.

 

But just like the patchwork heart depicted above, we piece our own hearts back together. We do have the means to do it ourselves if we try. It is pure bliss when someone mends it for us, knowingly or unknowingly. Love again finds us, and with it we regain a new scrap to replace the missing one. It is carefully sewn into place, perhaps secured with a button. The thread weaving it tightly to the adjoining areas. And each time we lose another piece due to some calamity, something or someone comes along with just enough extra heart to fill our own. We also find the more love we give to others, the more we receive. Piece for piece.

 

Time wears on, and the quilt begins to get ragged. Holes may start to appear. The thread loses its strength bit by bit, day by day. And just when it seems beyond repair, along comes that special someone or a cherished memory with enough thread and heart to fix it.  

 

Really, were we to be able to see the emotional scars our hearts bear, I think they would resemble a patchwork quilt. The colors would not all be the same. The patterns would differ. The sizes of the pieces would be irregular. But together, they hold strong. And maybe, just maybe, it is those variations that make our hearts even more beautiful than they used to be when untouched by tragedies or heartaches.

 

Yes, I believe that.

 

"The heart will break, but broken live on." ~Lord Byron

Tags: Valentine's Day, February, heart, heartache