I found the heart-shaped, gray stone on the beach in Washington State. How did the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean carve a rock into a heart? And why?
The heart is an important image for the grief community because it speaks of the emotional connections we had with our loved one. We miss their presence, touch, and feeling their heartbeat when we held them close. So we notice the shape of hearts everywhere—in leaves, the pattern of rust on the head of a bolt, but especially when they appear in the clouds because those seem like a message to us from the Beyond.
Can we live so that all the colors of our heart are seen?
When I washed off the dirt, bits of seaweed and salt, the heart’s color changed to a warm, golden ochre. Some say this happens to our heart when it’s washed with tears because then the clarity of who we are is revealed.
How do people shape the meanderings of their hearts into acts of love?
I looked closer. Under a different light, more colors appeared—flecks of red, a patch of blue, and lines of gold. The colors of our heart go deep. How we present ourselves in bright daylight is different than what is visible at night when darkness opens us up, and our world of dreams and longing and emotions emerge.
This rock is our heart. It has been shaped by the people whose ocean of love has nurtured us.
This rock is our loved one’s heart. The red magenta is their blood. The cobalt blue is the color of their dreams. The lines of gold are their compassion for others. The sway of the water in their ocean of love shaped our hearts so that we could feel the wonder of love. They wove their colors into our life to give us strength and direction.
The heart of love is a rock. It does not give up hope when sorrows come, nor does it ever forget those we’ve loved.
On some days, we feel worn out and abandoned, like a gray stone that has washed up on a cold, wind-swept shore, and it’s all we can do to hang on. Then someone picks our heart up from the beach, and takes us home.
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