Dear Reader:

Saturday as I walked down Old Country Club road…I smiled when I got to the end and saw the hearts (flag) in front of the last house before the dead end. Goodness…before we know it Valentines will be here! January leaves, then old groundhog comes out to smile and get his picture made, and finally chocolate candy hearts abound.

There are always lots of romance stories floating around Valentines Day…but there are also endearing “heart” stories that perhaps stick longer in our memories because they happen every day.

Quinn Caldwell, in one of his daily devotions, talks on this special kind of “heart story.”

“Transplant”  Quinn Caldwell

“Set me as a seal upon your heart…for love is strong as death…” – Song of Solomon 8:5-6

I was sitting in a hospital room, talking with a member of my church about the new (well, new to her, anyway) kidney that was just then firing up inside her.  We were talking gratitude and miracles, because what else is there to discuss two days after a successful organ transplant?

She told me a story her transplant surgeon had told her about a mother whose teenage son had been killed in an accident and whose organs had been donated to others.  The man who received his heart wanted to thank her in person, and so they arranged to meet.  She showed up at the meeting with a stethoscope, so that she could hear her son’s heart beat again.

I wanted to know more, so I Googled it later.  I couldn’t find my parishioner’s story—but only because I couldn’t tell which one of the many I found was hers.  Apparently, this happens all the time.  It’s a thing.  Pull out the tissues and check out stories here and here and here. There are more.

I just can’t stop watching those videos.  Maybe I should worry that this is a little too schadenfreudey or emotionally manipulative or something.  But the truth is that each one basically feels like a different version of the same gorgeous sermon.

Prayer

Come, God, come.  Bring your stethoscope, and listen for Your Son’s heart beating in me.  Don’t let me reject this spiritual transplant, and let me make this second chance worth it.  Amen.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

My cousins’ (Aunt Eva’s son Don and his wife Gay) first child, a little boy… only lived three years…he died from a degenerative disease. He was beautiful…blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes. When he died my cousins donated whatever organs could be used for others…including those beautiful blue eyes.

I have often wondered if Don and Gay ever knew who they went to…and if she would want to look into those eyes one more time. What a gift of life and sight this young couple  gave while mourning the loss of their first-born.

I love the idea that all of us have been given a piece of Christ’s transplanted heart and like Quinn Caldwell prayed…Let us not throw this gift of life away…a second chance at life eternal.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

And speaking of ‘getting to the heart of the matter’ …Yesterday was my first time to keep Eloise while Mollie ran some errands and Walsh helped with some cleaning (Eloise is taking a bottle when needed)….Little Eloise was a sweetheart…she soon discovered I had nothing to offer her but hugs and kisses and bottled milk…so she just drank up and went back to sleep. Can hardly wait to keep her again next week!

Little boys grow up to have big toys…a benchmark birthday present for Walsh…He is hoping that he and Mollie can take the boys to school through some back trails some days in the future when Rutledge starts kindergarten next year. Before I left to come home… Walsh gave me a ride around their neighborhood…so much fun!

*This beautiful oak with the hanging moss (below) was one of my favorite shots on W. Walker near the original Tea Farm last week…If that tree could talk…what tales it could tell.

*Jo’s comments on knowledge and timing:

Although your topic today is about being open to new things and ideas, and the tea cup story was a great example of that, the educator at the conference with the pitcher and glass touched a nerve in me. I have always thought that knowledge is sequential and without understanding before adding more information, you are simply overfilling the glass.

Too much at once is simply wasted water. I have honestly experienced this myself when one of my well-meaning family members shows me how simple so many things are on my computer , or all one has to do is this, and this etc on that smart phone (which, by the way, isn’t so smart in the hands of the wrong person). Apparently, I like my tea in a china cup (one of Anne’s would be great) and just a small amount at a time please.

(Touche Jo!)