Remember God will not look us up for medals...

He will look us up for scars ...

If this passage can change just one person's perception of Life, Just one,

I would feel that my efforts of putting up this site have been worth wile.

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the 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 or a
flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was 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 man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars,
it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but
they didn't fit quite 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 can he say 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
of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their
heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces
aren't exact, 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 the other person
hasn't returned a piece of his 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 space 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 a piece out. 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 wound in the young
man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The
young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than
ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his. They embraced and
walked away side by side.

Author Unknown