Giving Away Your Heart

Yesterday, I received a voicemail from my daughter, who called to say, "Well, just in case Mark Garrett didn't have your heart already, just wait until you hear him sing "the Spirit of Aggieland!"  Now, she knows a lot about me giving my heart away, because I gave it to her one Sunday morning, in September of 1978.  As I thought about her voicemail, I began to realize that there were a number of times I have given my heart away, to different people and what that meant.

I remember a Christmas season, in 1974, when I realized that a young lady named Anita, had taken my heart, almost before I knew it.  What had been a good friendship had become the beginning of a lifelong love.  Over the past 36 years, I have never regretted giving her my heart and I would do it over again every day!

In 1978, I met a little girl named Alicia, who with one little quiver of her bottom lip, stole my heart away.  For the next 25 years, she continued to own my heart and then, even after she stole another man's heart (sorry, Tim!) she has always known she had mine as well.  Two years after she was born, I once again gave my heart away to her brother.  I knew the minute I saw him and held him that he too would own my heart.  Through all the days since, he has had my heart, to carry around with him.

In September of 2005, I met a little boy named Mark Garrett and held him for the first time.  He definitely stole my heart and I didn't even mind.  I don't know if he even knows it yet, but he will always have my heart and there is nothing that could ever change that.  Two years later, at a pay phone in Malindi, Kenya, I knew that once again, I would be giving my heart away to another little grandson.  This time, it would be to Luke Patton.  He has, like his brother before him, completely captured my heart!  I think the real trouble lies in the fact that in September, I will be giving my heart away again...to a little granddaughter that will be just as wonderful as her brothers.  I can't wait!

Over the years, I have realized that God intended for us to develop the kind of relationships where we give our hearts away to those we love.  In fact, it was so important that he gave us a model, in His Son.  You see, the most important time I gave my heart away was a summer night in Irving, Texas, when I gave my heart of stone to Jesus and He gave me His heart of flesh.  As the poet said, "...that has made all the difference!"

I have no idea what your life is like.  You may be lonely and have not a single person to whom you have given your heart.  Or you may have lots of people in your life.  Either way, I can tell you that if you have not given your heart to the Lord and Savior of the world, you are not complete.  Unless that heart give-away has taken place, you are just going through the motions of life...without purpose and without hope!

I would love to sit down and tell you how that heart transplant can take place.  If you would like to know more, just post a comment for me and I will get back to you.  In the meantime, I just would like to keep giving my heart away...it's the only way to really live!