When the ground we stand on cannot be trusted. When our best technologies fail. When everything that could go wrong, does. When watching the news makes our ears want to stop hearing, makes our eyes want to be blind. When the quake shakes your core too and your very spirit is shifted 2 meters to the right. When we are afraid our hearts will rip clean out of our chests… its tempting to just to let it happen. To stop up that heart and tuck it away somewhere less risky than planet earth…
Today I did. Today, I place this heart in bigger hands. I choose to remind myself that it is all His and that it is still His. That though I cannot see my way to peace with it yet, I will trust that those in the midst of it will find some. I will pray fervently and I will do all I can to be one with those muddling in their broken hearts. I will read this book to my kids over and over to remind myself the point of a soft heart. Remembering that the best and most beautiful are also sensed by that same aching chunk in my chest. Reminding myself to let go of the need to control and understand…Those are the responsibility of a mind much greater than mine and a heart much softer (even if today that is hard to reconcile).
Linking today with:
and
one thing blog 
smiles. in the face of such tragedy it is hard…i have walked among hurricane destruction and i only imagine this far worst and His hands are the best place to rest our hearts…
It is hard to see sometimes isn’t it? I keep telling myself that someday. Someday I will see the treasure that awaits at the end of this trial.
Pingback: Heartbreak « One Question A Day
The description of that book made my heart contract and my eyes tear up. Is it good? Does it really help, a little? The devastation in Japan just seems so overwhelming that I too struggle with wanting to shut down.
It is a great childrens book. One of those ones that leaves grown ups a little thick tongued. Does it help? Well…I don’t know. It makes you feel like that dull ache is worth the cost?
Thanks for stopping by!
“Somewhere less risky than planet earth.”
No kidding. Thanks for writing.
Wow, I am exactly where you describe here… stopping my heart up in a bottle because I just need to resist the quakes. I haven’t come out on the other side of faith yet, as you also describe. I’m trusting it’s everything-in-its-time. Thank you so much for your words.
i have the same feelings and thoughts about our world.
god knows.
we have to trust.
his ways are not our ways. sadly, it is usually through adversity when he gets our attention…
oh melissa…. this line: To stop up that heart and tuck it away somewhere less risky than planet earth…
i know this. perhaps, intentional, so we keep longing for heaven? God’s gift to us, pain, so we never forget where our home truly is? love you sister, and this tender post. (the book looks amazing–i’ve added it to my wish list :))
ps. i did just leave a comment, but from my wordpress account 🙂 loved this, dear melissa, as always… the way you tenderly capture God’s heart, shattering it across the screen for us to pick up and tuck inside of us. love you.
It’s true, there are days it feels as though the pain and suffering near and far would overtake the grace, but as you so eloquently say, “That though I cannot see my way to peace with it yet, I will trust that those in the midst of it will find some”. A true test of courage and faith…