Do you have a heart tattoo? You know, a permanent mark imbedded in your heart?
Texas pastor and New York Times
selling author Max Lucado manages to think of the most brilliant metaphors and
analogies. It is certainly a gift God has bestowed upon him. In his 2014 book before amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer ,
He likens the memories of past sins to being tattoos on your heart. When I read
that in the quiet, solitary confines of my reading room, it struck me as being
so beautifully true, that I reacted by talking to out loud. “Brilliant! Exactly!”
I wasn’t just thinking about my
sins, though. I was thinking about how it feels to have experienced grief
through the death of my baby. I could envision and almost feel a tiny “V” permanently inked
into my heart for my baby Victoria. And I’m sure many of you have your own
letters marked on your hearts. I can think of friends who do.
The friend who experienced six
miscarriages before finally succeeding in having a baby she ached for. She
still has six tiny “B’s” on her heart for the babies who didn’t make it. My mother,
whose first baby died in utero. An abnormally short umbilical cord wrapped
around my sister’s neck and slowly stole the life from her. My mom has a tiny
“C” for Cheryl etched on her heart. Then there’s the friend who underwent two
abortions, thinking at the time that once she got rid of “the problem,” that the
fear and memory would subside, but instead learned that the memory and pain of
the decision nip at her heart and gnaw at her mind nearly every day of her life.
If she knew the sex of her aborted babies, she could name give them an identity
by naming them. If not, she has two “B’s” tattooed on her heart, too.
Your tattoo may be fresh and still
oozing from the needlepoint penetration. Or it may be old and worn. Either way,
it’s permanent.
The trick, though, is to not
compartmentalize it away and live as though it never happened. That way of
handling pain is simply a coping mechanism that strives to deny truth. Some
take this so far as to brainwash themselves by so thoroughly suppressing the
pain that they create a new reality for themselves. In doing so, they create a
new “truth.”
But neither should we live tethered
to our pain, with coagulated blood forever decorating the edges, or, worse yet,
wake up daily to re-imprint over the name because we simply cannot let our pain
go. We’ve become so attached to it that we let it define us, and our living. It
sacrifices our here-and-now life on the altar of the old one.
Knowing and facing the truth can set
you free from living in either extreme.
And having visions of a glorious
future can help you experience joy in the present, and victory over the past.
With that last thought in mind, I’d
like to leave you with what I think is a beautiful word picture Dr. J. Vernon
McGee painted in his booklet Death of a
Little Child. He addresses a question so many parents have about their “missing”
children.
“Will our children be as we last saw
them? I do not know nor can I prove it
from Scripture (for Scripture is
silent at this point), but I believe with all my
heart that God will raise the little
ones as such, and that the mother’s arms
that have ached for them will have
the opportunity of holding the. The father’s
hand
that never held the little hand will be given that privilege. I believe that
the little ones will grow up in
heaven in the care of their earthly parents— if
they are saved… What an added joy
this lends to heaven in looking forward
to having your little one again!
Though the Scriptures do not teach this
explicitly, this does seem to be the
sense. Remember that David expected to
go to his child. And referring to children Christ said, ‘Of such is the
kingdom
of heaven.”’
Until next week,
Thanks for joining me!
Blessings,
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