Matters of the Heart

Matters of the Heart . . . . Definitely not something than I'm an "expert" at .... no degrees here .... Although I have been schooled in the biggest and harshest classroom out there -- it's called "real life experiences".   We all have our own ways of handling "matters of the heart".  Truth is, there's really no right or wrong answer to this very complex issue.  We've all asked that age old question at least once in our lives .... "What is love?" or "What is true, unconditional love?" ---  There are other "types" of love that are wonderful but I believe can get us a bit confused at times....such as romantic love, comforting love, sisterly/brotherly love, friendship love and I'm sure we could come up with some more.  Our hearts also deal with anger, hurt, betrayal, loyalty..... With all of that, it's no wonder our hearts can get confused sometimes.  Who do we trust?, What do we do?, where do we go?, how do we make it better?  Unfortunately it's up to us to determine what it all means and what we do with it.  Thankfully for me, I choose to try and use God and the Bible as my guideline to what He says is true, real love.  How He says we should handle anger, betrayal, etc.  It's not always easy to see or do what God directs us to, that's why He puts people in our lives to help point things out to us, to share in our joys and excitement, to help us through those tough times and decisions. 

Matters of the Heart can bring us some of our happiest times and can bring us to our lowest low.  Opening up and giving our heart completely to someone is one of the scariest, vulnerable things we can do.  The trust and faith that you have to have to give someone the gift of your heart is not to be taken lightly.  And as the recipient of that gift, you shouldn't take it lightly either.  Every time you give it away you risk it being returned, mistreated or not taken care of.   We can build up walls that can take years to bring down --- that I speak from experience.  After my first marriage failed, I thought I would never love again.  My heart was so damaged by all the lies, betrayal and hurt, I just couldn't imagine ever risking my heart again.  Everyone takes different amounts of time to heal and move on, there's not set amount of time that makes it all better.  When I finally put myself out there again, it was really hard.  Could I trust what my heart felt for someone again? Could I trust my mind?  My gut or friends or family to help steer me in the right direction?  Thankfully I turned to God for all of that and it doesn't mean that everything was perfect and that love just fell into my lap, or that I didn't get hurt again.  I've still had my share of emotional rollercoaster rides and uncertainty.  I know I don't want to spend my life without someone to enjoy it with -- but who do I trust with the gift of my heart?  I chose to let God lead me where he wants me & who's life I should be in & who I should love in all the different formats of love.  It's not an easy road & I definitely don't always understand the twist & turns & detours --- and I still get hurt & angry & confused.  But what I do know is that the ability to love is the greatest gift that God has given us and I will never take that for granted again. 

If there's one thing that my parents taught me by example was to love with all your heart and show that love to one another often, cause you never know when it will be your last.  Life is short & happiness is there for the taking.  Don't spend your valuable time looking back cause we can't change any of past......what's ahead is what you have to look forward to and still have some control over.  So my final thought on "Matters of the Heart" is simple:  take care of your heart, respect all that it handle and most of all allow your heart love like there's no tomorrow and never take for granted that wonderful gift that God gave you.