Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23)
In the far corner of the room, we sat together. Leaning in so as to not miss a word, my gaze intent on hers. Quietly, in a barely audible whisper, she laid bare her heart in the space between us. The pain that had been suffocating her for too many years made itself known.
There, in the still corner, she revealed her deepest wounds and greatest fears. My body numb, with tear filled eyes, I gently nodded. No words were spoken, none would be suitable for this moment anyway. Her heart laid broken, shattered before me. Gazing at the fragments, I could only thank her for confiding in me. I thanked her for trusting me to walk alongside of her, to bare the weight of a portion of her burden.
When another lays bare the broken rhythms of her heart, we should not dare to alter the tune.
And yet, we do. With honest words I will tell you friends have trusted me with their war torn hearts, and I have only damaged them further. I thought I knew the answers. I thought I held the key. I spoke when I should have listened.
When the song of our hearts are fading, we need to connect intimately with one another. We need safe havens to bring the darkness into the light. We need a place of safety to reveal our wounded hearts and wandering minds. When the walls around us threaten to crumble, we need a hand to guide us to safety. Should the walls crash down, we need a hand to reach down to pull us from the wreckage.
We need to be aware that it is an honor to be trusted. It is an honor to be asked to hold, if only for a breath, the burden's another has carried. It is a high praise to be considered a friend who will stick closer than a brother.
In my years of holding hearts, I have found the best I can do is lay them before the lover of our souls. It is the Lord, not I, who is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). While broken, lifeless pieces remain hindered in my feeble hands, once fragmented pieces are restored in the hands of the Creator.
Life and hope beat in a steady cadence once more. There, in the hands of the one who knit us together in our mother's womb, we are made whole. Our tattered hearts and tear stained eyes are found beautiful in the hands of our heavenly father.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121:1-2).
Do you have a trusted friend whom you turn to when life weighs you down? How have you seen God use others to reveal himself to you? In the moments when life is crashing down, how do you maintain your focus on Truth?