Friends are the family we choose for ourselves. – Edna Buchanan
Though you are my family, I cherish the thought that we are also friends.
Perhaps I can explain, just a little, how important living with heart is to me and what this means.
When I was young I looked to the obvious beauties of the natural world, believing only that face of God, listening for words unspoiled by human thought. While I enjoyed a certain solace, my heart waited to feel a kinship with my own kind, equally lovely in its inspiration.
When I was blessed with children my heart expanded – my world, my dreams. Here, finally, something beautifully human. I never conceived the extent to which these four people would lead me to understand the true majesty of the human soul: Love.
I have come to believe that our beating heart is the jewel to be mined from this earthly dunghill. Buried beneath our collective sins – joy and pain, courage and greed – is a mighty inspiration.
But how to dig out? For me, it is no less than looking to the foundation of my own heart’s desires, understanding what drives me from rest to work, apathy to action. And my own heart is as much a betrayer as a defender.
Simply: every day my beating heart leads me to understand myself and others better and, perhaps, a little light is shed on what waits just under the surface of this darkness of ignorance.
Are you prepared to love another human being unconditionally and, equally important, are you prepared to be truly loved? Accept this jewel of the earth, this promise of heaven.
It is an honor to witness this miracle, even if for a short time.
Amada Reza
September 28, 2012