It’s 2:15pm on a Monday afternoon and I’m already yawning—which is why I’m stopping at Starbucks for a little caffeine treat. Standing at the coffee bar doctoring up my Americano, a little note pinned up on the community board catches my eye.
The writing is haphazard—a jumbled thought tossed out for the world to read (you know, like how we used to communicate before social media)
It says: Can we stay open in a world that grinds and chews—can we keep our hearts?”
I can picture the scragly unshaven college student with rolled up jeans and boots who wrote this. (Think Lumber-Sexual) He’s frustrated and angst ridden. His girl has dropped him for a thirty-year old-financial planner. His heart is crushed. He brushes an errant lock of hair out of his weepy eyes as he stabs at the board with a push pin and leaves his note for the world to engage with. Then he grabs his guitar and journal and trudges back out onto the mean streets of South Orange County.
I chuckle at my imaginations.
But his (or her) question haunts me. I go back and I snap a pic so I can ruminate on it further.
(Because that’s what writers do…we create drama in our minds)
I don’t know this guy’s story. Maybe he’s in the worst pain imaginable. Maybe he’s struggling to go on.
Maybe his heart is shattered and he wonders if he will ever love again?
And I want to wrap my arms around this hurting kid I’ve conjured up in my mind and hold on tight.
I’ll pat him on the back (just like when my own son is sad) as he cries guttural howls of pain and hiccups with snot pouring out of nose on his hipster boots.
I’ll hang with him (or her).
I’ll tell him I see your crushing sorrow.
And I will mourn with him.
Because I too remember the moments I thought I would die from pain.
Loss, betrayal, divorce, death…
But hope intervened. Hope steered me to the shore.
So, my friend, Can we stay open in a world that grinds and chews—can we keep our hearts?”
Yes…
Yes we can. But it requires effort.
It requires an emptying of self—a (symbolic) sacrifice on the altar of entitlement where we release all the anger, bitterness and perceived control.
It requires a belief in a greater love—a hope in something bigger than the pain.
It requires eyes to see all the ways God cares and reaches out to us in the darkest night.
I think of my dear friends and loved ones who’ve walked me through trauma—certainly glimpses of Jesus with skin on.
But if I had closed myself off from them, I would have missed all the mystery and bigness of God reminding me I am never alone. I am never forsaken.
I had to let them in. I had to reach out for their hand in the storm.
And hold on.
An open heart embraces community.
My counselor recently commented that the healthiest people engage. They cry easily and feel intensely—joy, sadness, and frustration. They are present in the moment.
They are open, tender, raw and real.
They are RESILIENT.
I gasped when she said this word. Because it was a word I keep sensing in prayer.
RESILIENT.
So, my darling Starbucks friend, Can we stay open in a world that grinds and chews—can we keep our hearts?”
Yes, Yes and yes!
And I think the mere fact that you reached out on a board at Starbucks is kind of awesome. It’s an open, bold and risky kind of move. It shows that you aren’t giving up.
It shows resilience…
Here is the link on the card if you want to join the discussion.
(And here are a few verses to remind you of how loved you are!)
re·sil·ient
able to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens. : able to return to an original shape after being pulled, stretched, pressed, …
