Tell Your Heart to Beat Again

“Yesterday’s a closing door, you don’t live there anymore. Say goodbye to where you’ve been and tell your heart beat again.”

You hum softly along with the music, nodding your head slowly and closing your eyes every few lines to savor something beautiful. Phrases like “Get back up, take step one” and “Close your eyes and breathe it in” don’t just make you want to hope. You do hope, and in your hope you praise the One who made music possible, and beautiful words a reality.

There is so much to fear today. Elections, political tensions, health threats, and war. You have a friend in Armenia who has been keeping you up-to-date with the present war conditions between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Yesterday she told you that the Azerbaijan forces have been killing civilians. Her horror and yours cannot even match the atrocity of this deed. After hearing about this, you researched petitions to the US government to send help out to Azerbaijan. There was one, and you signed it, then shared it with your many friends over the internet.

But what appalled you in that search, was that under the term “USA send help to Armenia petition” you saw dozens of other petitions, asking the government to not send help. To withdraw what little forces remain.

And you can’t understand why. Why would the US abandon the struggling Armenia? Why are all the big countries around the globe ignoring this crisis? Why can’t elections be over already so that world and nation-wide issues can finally be addressed?

The frozen state of your government is like a knife imbedded in the souls of all true Americans, that waits to be withdrawn, but the life-saving surgery is constantly being delayed. “Oh, not yet.” If not yet, when?

There is so much to worry about. But as you told your friend: “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but gets you nowhere.” Worry about what will be. Worry about what has been. Worry about what is now that you so desperately long to change yet have no power to do so.

All you can do is write, and hope that writing will somehow get the word out. You are young. You are ignorant. Will people even listen to you? Why should they? They have enough to worry about without adolescents shoving in their oar.

You want to help, but you don’t know how. You feel crushed by the amount of things that need to change up but just keep plummeting: Racism. LGBTQ+ agendas. Abortion. The green lie. Religious freedom. Sexual slave traffic. Slavery in general. Drugs. Terrorism. War.

You are afraid of what has been, because no matter how hard you have tried to change things in the past, people won’t listen. They say truth is relative. They say morality is relative. They say that you can do what you like and no one gets to say no, even if what you’re doing is wrong. Because they say right and wrong depend on who defines them. They say there’s no point trying to change things back to what they were, because the progressive slant is what’s best. This is the new Bible: What I say.

But what they say is wrong. They are tricking themselves and they can’t even see it. Some perhaps can, but those are the ones who don’t really care. They are virtue signalers. Their purpose is not right and wrong but politically correct and incorrect. Because this leads to power and respect. It is the easy way out. The coward’s way. Truth is now defined by whoever screams loudest and then by those countless people who ignorantly agree because that’s all they can or want to hear.

It’s such a mess. Such a horrible, cruel, sinful mess. How can you fix it? You want to try! But whenever you try to be real you are called naïve, aggressive, arrogant and ignorant.

All the names you have ever been assigned scroll through your mind like a bloody list of damnable accusations. They say you are evil. They say you are cruel. They say you hate them. How can they say that? You are telling the truth because you love them and it hurts too much to see them living a lie . . .

You’ve tried to so, so many times to help, and 90% of those times you have your legs cut out from under you. How wrong do you have to be to be right? How right can you be before you are called wrong? Are lies truth and truth lies? Is there any way you can change this? Is it even worth it to try anymore?

“You are broken like you’ve never been before. The life you knew in a thousand pieces on the floor.”

The words sing through your mind. You nod slowly, eyes brimming with tears. A thousand pieces. Broken like never before. Oh, how it hurts . . .

“And words fall short in times like these, when this world drives you to your knees.”

Yes, you’re on your knees, and you can’t even say, no matter how hard you try, the extent of this pain. This emptiness. This weariness and desire to just give up.

“You think you’re never gonna get back to the you that used to be.”

Will you? That you is so far behind. So bright, clear, sure of purpose, brave and strong. But now you’re broken . . . how can you ever be like that again?

“Tell your heart to beat again. Close your eyes and breathe it in. Let the shadows fall away; step into the light of grace.”

That simple? Let the shadows fall away. The shadows of your past. The shadows of your present. The shadows of your fear in what might be. You’re not alone. You’re still alive. Breathe it in – you’re stepping into grace.

“Yesterday’s a closing door, you don’t live there anymore-“

Yes, yes. You sob with joy. It is a closing door. Yes, you don’t have to live there anymore. It’s all behind. Yes, today is new.

“Say goodbye to where you’ve been, and tell your heart to beat again.”

All right. You’ll say goodbye. We’ll all say goodbye, because “Love’s healing hands have pulled you through.”

It’s time to “Get back up, take step one. Leave the darkness, feel the sun.”

Because “Your story’s far from over, and your journey’s just begun.”

Sure, you’ll still have a past, but remembrance need not be terrible. It can beautiful. All you have to do is “Let every heartbreak and every scar be a picture that reminds you Who has carried you this far.”

It’s going to be OK “Cause love sees farther than you ever could. In this moment heaven’s working everything for your good.”

In the end, all will be right. Life can be terrible now. That’s OK. You have a future and a hope.

“Oh, so tell your heart to beat again.”

Beat with purpose.

Beat with love.

Hope.

Faith.

Joy.

Now close your eyes-

And breathe it in.