Tarnished Hearts
Recently I drove to an old tomato canning factory turned antique store. I was looking for a piece of jewelry to photograph for our new website.
I parked in the gravel lot in front of the old building. Black wrought iron antique lawn furniture and planters dotted the lawn outside near the parking lot. A little bell attached to the red front door rang, as I opened it. The smell of grandma's basement filled my nostrils.
I looked to my left and then to my right, trying to decide which way to begin my treasure search. I turned left at first and admired a 1910 steamer trunk made of cherry wood with sturdy brass latches and buckles. After a few entranced minutes, I recalled why I came. Heart and Key. Yes. Making my way to my right, I walked toward the estate jewelry section of the store. Oriental rugs covered the cracks in the cement flooring.
"Can I help you find something?" the clerk said. She was a blonde woman wearing a crisp white blouse and a large turquoise necklace.
"Just looking. Well, I guess, I am looking for something special. Something with hearts."
"Hearts?" she looked puzzled.
"I've started a new website, and it's all about hearts, people's hearts, I want to take some photographs."
"Okay." She still looked puzzled. "What is the name of your site?"
"Heartandkey.org... it is all about realizing that God holds the key to unlock our hearts."
I had in mind something dazzling for the photograph. I was scanning all the display cases as I talked.
She looked at me and said in a still, quiet voice, "You know, I couldn't agree with you more, about God, that is. Let me think about what I might have in my inventory."
Her name was Carol, and she began bringing out jewelry heart items of gold and silver, and even rose polished stone. Each heart more elaborate than the other. We looked and chatted as I scanned the glass cases, her warmness felt like the sunshine beaming in through the thick paned window, next to us.
I looked at all the beautiful jewelry, but nothing seemed just right.
Then suddenly, Carol said, "I know! I have just the thing as if she had remembered something from long ago that had been put away."
She reached into the back of the glass display cabinet and brought out a little box. She lifted the lid and inside was a bracelet from the late 1890's. "This is from Italy, and the small flowers are hand painted mosaics. Very intricate." The original tiny key was with the bracelet.
"Surprisingly, the key has not been lost, it unlocks the heart and opens the bracelet." She showed me how it worked, as we inspected the hearts dangling from the links. Was this a child's bracelet, I thought. Suddenly, Carol gasped, "But, oh... the little heart, that the key slides into is tarnished, and a bit broken...you don't want that."
I looked at Carol's face of disappointment, then back to the tarnished heart on the bracelet, "Actually...., it's just what I've been looking for. I'll take it."
We all have a tarnished heart, don't we? Whether from loss or grief or some pain in our life, or something we have done, our hearts can feel tarnished and broken from the battering of life.
Heartandkey.org was designed to encourage you and lift you up, to let you know that God Loves you more than you can imagine. Tarnished heart and all. We just have to open our hearts and let Him unlock it.
The key to the bracelet unlocked and opened the heart charm after all these years. Amazing. The inner workings forged by the jewelry maker still worked after time had eroded the outside part of the heart. The jeweler had understood the inner workings of the piece he had created. That seems just like God, all we have to do is give him our heart - he can unlock it!
Welcome to Heartankey.org! Giving hope to tarnished hearts with God's love one heartbeat at a time. Visit our Contact page and download a Free Heart and Key Booklet. Start unlocking a Heart today!
Blessings,
Stacy J. Ladyman