On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me--the first line of an amazing bit of wisdom carved into the stone above a door of an ancient church in Iran:
Where Jesus Is, the Great-Hearted Gather.
I've noticed over the years that people who gather in Christian churches, myself included, are often not particularly great-hearted.
Maybe the first line carved in stone above this church door is a prophecy, something about our potential?
What does it mean to be great-hearted? Or maybe it's better to ask, what does it take to be great-hearted?
Perhaps it's about having hearts that continue to keep pace with our lives. To grow so that there's room in us to hold life's circumstances wisely--maybe even with a sense of humor.
And with more kindness--both for ourselves and everybody else who wanders in and out of our hearts' neighborhoods.
Any chance you'll eat more than you can hold today? There's something in that feeling that's parallel to not being great-hearted, for not having room for what we're taking in.
But then the metaphor breaks down. We don't need bigger stomachs.
But having hearts that grow to hold what life brings--that's another thing.
