What is the content of your heart?
Dear friend,
Martin Luther King’s
“I Have a Dream” speech
delivered in 1963
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
to the 250,000 souls gathered there
speaks to us all
in these dark days:
I have a dream
that my four little children
will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin
but by the content of their character.
My brother Tim Hall
was there in the crowd
that day.
He went South
and risked his life
working to make
Dr. King’s dream come true.
He later wrote:
Do not believe
you cannot change men’s hearts.
The hearts of some men
are changing the world
and the world
will turn around
and change the hearts
of the others.
What we have inside us
The content of our character
is what leads us
to devote our lives
to a loving and just vision
of the world.
The content of our heart
is what we give to others
to make the vision real.
Therefore
in these dark days
as Trump and his zealots
seek to destroy Dr. King’s vision
of a loving and just America
as they trample
our Constitution underfoot
each one of us
is called to ask:
What is
the content of my heart?
and
Am I willing to give it
to others
to help protect and build
freedom for us all?
A conversation
A few days ago
I shared with my husband
the sorrow I am feeling
about a friend of mine
who is suffering.
He is a man
I have known
since grade school
who is so disheartened
by events since the election
that he is losing his will to resist.
I felt my husband listening.
He fully heard my pain.
He understood my feelings
and I could see
he cared deeply
for me
and for my friend.
When I finished speaking
I thanked him for listening.
I said:
“Thank you for hearing
the content of my heart.”
I then had the thought:
“He doesn’t just care
about me.
He also cares about
who and what
I care about.
He doesn’t just love
the dimension of my heart
that loves him.
He cares about all
that is in my heart.
He loves
the whole me.”
I was quite moved
by this realization
and told him so.
What does this mean about love?
It means
that in order to be loved
as a whole person
we need to share
the content of our heart.
And those we share it with
need to receive it
and care deeply about it.
The same is true
the other way around.
We need to hear
the content of their heart.
Receive it
and care deeply about it.
In this way
we love each other
as whole persons.
We listen to each other.
We get inside
what is being shared
and we grow into bigger souls.
More aware of others.
More aware of the world.
So let’s take a step
How about
gently taking a look
inside your heart today.
What do you keep
tucked away in there?
What is it
that you treasure?
What is in there
that keeps you strong?
Can you see
the precious content
of your heart?
These are the gifts
that only you
can give.
My heart
My heart
is full of poetry.
Lines and lines
of poems and songs.
Those of others
and my own.
To me
a person is
an intense poem
I receive and
connect with
and seek to understand.
I keep their words
stashed in my heart.
Every soul I ever loved
is still in there
alive and well.
Every week
when I write you this letter
I share with you
the treasures
of my heart.
My letters
are my poems.
I write them
to stay close with you.
So you
are not alone.
Especially now
as we go through
this terrible time.
Your heart
And so
let me gently ask again
What is in your heart,
my friend?
What precious content
do you keep tucked away
in there?
If you would want us
to really know
who you are
and to stay close
with you
in these difficult times
is there a treasure
you keep inside
your heart
that you
would want to share
with us?
We will receive it
tenderly
and it will
grow us stronger.
Today is Valentine’s Day. A day to remember love gone by and a day to celebrate new love. I remember a 20 year-old boy and an 18 year old girl. On our first Valentine’s Day 65 years ago today, I bought her a single long stem red rose with the last 50 cents in my pocket. A year and a half later she became my wife. 60 plus years later on Valentine’s Day three years ago with sadness in my heart, I told her it was okay to stop fighting the cancer that was racking her body and she stopped the chemo her oncologist wanted to try and, completely, mentally aware, signed herself into hospice. With cancer as his ally, death won that fight six days later.
And yet, and yet, life continues and one year ago and again today I have sent lovely bouquets to the woman in Denver who once almost 70 years ago was my high school and early college years sweetheart. Love found again.
LOVE IS REAL
No matter where you are.
There is where I want to be.
Neither distance nor time
changes my love for you.
In our ninth decade
we are one you and I.
New memories ours alone
wait to be created.
When you share what is inside your heart, you give the one you are sharing with the power to nurture or wound. It is not given casually and should not be received lightly. Sometimes what is given may not be something that would be important to you, but it should be cherished because it is important to the one doing the giving.