Photo by Ruan Richard on Unsplash

There once was a girl whose heart was made of safety glass–the kind that cracked all through but held together well, the kind that hurts less when it breaks.

Safety had always been of utmost importance for this girl. Her heart had been broken so many times, all throughout her life. She thought that if she could hide it inside herself and not share it, maybe she could keep it from cracking. Maybe if she could wrap it carefully with cushiony walls and save it for special occasions, she could protect it.

Hiding it was too difficult for her. Her heart jumped within her with happiness and love and joy. She loved so many people and animals! She even loved her furniture dearly for its age and service and wisdom.

She couldn’t seem not to love.

Each time she felt unseen by someone she thought should love her as much as she loved them, her heart

c r a c k e d

a

bit.

Each time someone she was true to was untrue to her in words or deeds, her heart

c r a c k e d

a bit

more.

Till one day her heart, so carefully guarded, cracked but still holding together, hurt so badly that she doubled over in pain

and her safety glass heart began to fall in brightly colored pieces

onto the floor

bit

by

brightly colored bit.

As her heart spilled, large hands appeared, catching

the

falling

pieces.

They were her Creator’s hands! The hands of the One who had been there for all the years and all the trying to protect her heart. There for all the times her heart had

c r a c k e d

and

c r a c k e d

until it finally broke.

Carefully her Creator began to press together the pieces of her safety glass heart. The love and the warmth of those hands started working all the broken bits together like clay, shaping and shaping and molding and forming. Forming all the pieces colored by

love

and pain

and loss

and

disappointment

into a new heart.

All of the wisdom learned, all of the love she’d been shown, all the love she had lost, the joy and the pain she’d felt with friends and family and animals, (and yes, even furniture,) was still there

but

re-formed into a new heart. By her Creator’s hands. With her Creator’s love and passion and kindness and care. Honoring all the many many many parts of her old and battered heart.

Then the Creator swept up with one large hand the pieces that first spilled onto the floor when the girl could take no more, and began pressing each one like a jewel into the outside of the new heart. Here, a magenta one, there sapphire, precious reminders of all she’d experienced through this life of hers, showing her the beauty to be found

even in the pain

showing her how her love still sparkled

even when it only went outward

showing her how valuable

every

piece was–even the saddest–by molding all the broken pieces into

one

whole

heart,

strong enough to love without any walls around it.