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Parables and Stories Myra The Heart One day a young man was standing in the middle of town proclaiming that he
had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and
they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark on it. Yes, they all agreed it was truly the most beautiful heart they had ever
seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful
heart. Suddenly an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said "why your
heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine". The crowd and the young man looked at the old mans heart. It was beating
strongly, but was full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and
other pieces put in, but they didn't quite fit right and there were several
jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces
were missing. The people stared, how he can say that his heart is more
beautiful, they thought. The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its
state and laughed. "You must be joking", he said. Compare your heart with mine,
mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears. Yes, said the old man, yours is perfect looking, but I would never trade with
you. You see every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love. I tear
out a piece my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of
theirs which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces
aren't exact fits, I have some rough edges, which I cherish because they remind
me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and other persons haven't
returned a piece of their heart to me. These are the empty gouges; giving love
is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding
me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return
and fill the spaces that I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is? The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up
to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped
out a piece. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took
his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred
heart and placed it in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as
there were some ragged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect any
more but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed
into his. They embraced and walked away side by side. How sad it must be to go through life with a whole heart. Our Saviors heart
must be patched and ragged, can we do any less for the people of this world. I
pray that we will have a scarred, gouged, ragged heart from intercession done
with love. 
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