A Perfect Heart

I was thinking about what makes the perfect heart awhile ago. I don't know why I was thinking about a story that I heard on a night radio show a long time ago. There was a young man who was showing off his perfect heart and many people were admiring it. It was a young heart, with no cracks or breaks and no pieces missing. An old man then came up and said that his heart was more perfect. He showed his heart to the people and it had scars and breaks. There were some pieces missing and some pieces that didn't quite fit. The young man looked at the older one and was confused. He wanted to know how a beaten, old broken heart was more perfect than an unbroken one. This is what the old man said. "The scars are from when my heart was broken and it healed. The pieces that don't fit are when someone else gave me a piece of their heart that didn't fit in the piece that I had given them of my heart. The pieces that are missing are when I gave a piece of my heart and one was not returned. I have loved, been loved and lost love. That is what makes my heart perfect." The young man, with tears in his eyes, reached into his heart and gave the old man a piece of his heart. The old man gave a piece of his heart to the younger one. The pieces didn't quite fit. But the two men were happy because both of their hearts became a little bit more perfect.

I wonder how many people are unwilling to take the chance on love because they think it will make their heart less than perfect. As if taking the chance to love and having that love not returned would be failing. Or not filling someone else's heart when you give all that you can give. Perfect love is not the love that is given in the perfect way, without any problems, or a love that is always received. Perfect love is simply the love that is given. It doesn't not has to be received. It just has to be offered.

Many people in the world are scared of saying "I love you" because they don't know what the reaction will be to the words that they say. They don't know if what they offer will be accepted or discarded. They think that what they give will be less than perfect if it is not new, or has been hurt in some ways. The thing in giving love is that it becomes more perfect the more you give away. Even when it is hurt, it is still perfect to give to others.

A perfect heart is not one that remains closed or unbroken. It is not one that has no scars and it is not one that has never been hurt. Perfect love has felt rejection and survives in spite of it. It survives and it keeps giving and loving no matter what. It is a heart that is strong enough to do that that is the perfect heart.