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“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
The metaphor I am about to use about the heart is not inherently biblical. However, the underlying message is based in Scripture. I believe it’s one of the foundational hopes God carries for us all. The metaphor materialized in my thoughts recently, as I was talking with a group of women with whom I will soon travel to Haiti. I love when God shows up like this.
Our hearts are not born whole. They are fragmented. Some pieces are missing. They need to be found, collected, and added to the whole. There are other parts of our hearts that are not our own. They don’t belong. They don’t fit quite right. Our hearts are comprised of significant portions that should be deposited for others to use or for us to relinquish for God’s glory. All of these pieces are God pieces.
“When I left Haiti last June, I left a piece of my heart there. I can’t wait to go back.”
As the group of women talked about and asked questions about our upcoming mission experience and a couple of their pending adoptions of children from Haiti, something clicked. My statement had triggered something inside me. I did not know if it was a good click or a bad one. I just knew that later, on the 90-minute drive home, I wanted to sit with God. Something in these conversations was important.
Later in my car, a question materialized. Why do I feel like part of my heart is in Haiti but not Russia or China? My children were also adopted internationally. One from Rostov, Russia, and the other from Nanchang, China. Mommy guilt started to creep in. Why don’t I feel as connected to by children’s birth countries as I do to Haiti?
God answered. I started to see my heart like a glass vase with some pieces of the mosaic missing. Holes in my vase reveal where those specific fragments are not present. God knows what those pieces are, and He knows where I can find them. The question for me becomes will I follow Him to those missing pieces in order to build my heart and make it whole?
Many years ago, I followed God to Russia. I found a piece of my heart in the blue eyes of a little boy sitting on the countertop of the medical room in a small orphanage. That piece was put in its place, forever sealed into my love-vase. I followed God to China several years later. I found another missing piece of my heart. She too, with her petite body but huge smile, filled one of the holes in my heart. I wasn’t leaving my heart in Russia or China. I was collecting my own heart’s pieces. I was treasuring what God had willed for me long ago.
Haiti was different. God had placed an extra piece on my heart-vase. A piece that didn’t belong only to me. It was to be shared … given away even. When I followed God to Haiti last year, it was for the purpose of depositing that piece, forever connecting me to the people, the culture, and their needs. When I travel to Haiti again this summer, I am simply going to visit that piece I left behind. It’s a God piece that will continue to pour out to others in an effort to show them who this person of Jesus is – to give them Life.
I believe we all have missing pieces. Call them God-shaped pieces if you will. But, I believe they come in all shapes and sizes and are meant to be filled with the plans, will, purposes, and adventures that God wants us to pursue as we run after Him. I believe the tugs we feel to do something extraordinary and for His glory are the pulsing beats of those pieces felt from the other side of the street, other end of town, in the slum neighborhood, in the widow’s house, and in the orphanage across the globe.
I think we all have extra pieces too. They are portions of our hearts that were intended to be given away. Perhaps these pieces are shared via acts service, gifts, tithe, time, resources, acts of love, or as callings. What about in our marriages? Or in our jobs, neighborhoods, or churches? Christ was in the giving-away-heart-pieces business. He so desperately wants us to do the same. The apostle John wrote, “Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” As followers of Christ, we can all do a better job of leaving behind our hearts – as reflections of His heart. “Walk the walk,” as they say.
Have you been collecting pieces to make your heart whole? Is there something tugging at your heart that you have been ignoring? I challenge you to find that piece. Follow God to the ends of the earth if you have to. A full and complete mosaic is what He is after – isn’t it what we should be chasing after as well?
Have you been depositing parts of your heart? Have you left His legacy in areas where others could use some God-shaped heart pieces? I encourage you to pray about how you can do that. We all want to make a difference. Sharing our extra heart pieces is an amazing way to get started.
Prayer – God, thank You for tugging on the holes in my heart and leading me to my children. Thank You for allowing me to share my heart – Your heart – with others in Haiti. I pray I continue to follow Your lead as we collect and deposit Your love wherever we go together. In Jesus name, Amen.
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