A Message From the Heart
Author Unknown
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 hisbeautiful heart. Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of thecrowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful asmine."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, theythought? 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 nevertrade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom Ihave given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it tothem, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into theempty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I havesome rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of thelove we shared.
Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the otherperson hasn't returned a piece of their heart to me. These are theempty 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 andbeautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old manwith trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in hisheart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed itin the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, asthere were some jagged edges.
The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but morebeautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed intohis. They embraced and walked away side by side.
How sad it must be to go through life with a whole heart!
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 hisbeautiful heart. Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of thecrowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful asmine."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, theythought? 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 nevertrade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom Ihave given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it tothem, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into theempty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I havesome rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of thelove we shared.
Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the otherperson hasn't returned a piece of their heart to me. These are theempty 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 andbeautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old manwith trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in hisheart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed itin the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, asthere were some jagged edges.
The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but morebeautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed intohis. They embraced and walked away side by side.
How sad it must be to go through life with a whole heart!
1 comment:
Since they are giving credit to Author Unknown, I'm sure you could use it and do the same. It is a nice story.
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