How much of our hearts do we share? How much of it do we lease to friends, family, lovers? When we do allow tenants, is their lease month to month, day to day, or longer term? Do we require a deposit in case they incur damages? Do we have pages of stipulations and rules? No pets, no smoke, no drink, no kids?

Heart real estate is valuable not because there is a limited amount of it, but because we give it away so infrequently and protect it so ferociously. The cost of a bad tenant is devastating and the effort to find a new one more worthy can be terribly difficult and seems to result in more pain. Sadly, so many stop looking, their hearts sitting vacant, cold and lifeless. Over time, the empty space is filled with old junk and hurtful feelings. The heart was never intended to be used for such gross utility but it satisfies the minimal requirements like that of storing grease covered, rusty car parts on a white living room carpet.

Within our hearts, there are many provinces each perfectly suited for the tenant. There are the transients who breeze in and out, sometimes taking and even stealing as they pass through. There is even real estate for the undeserving. Unworthy perhaps but still a place in our hearts for all of them. Unlike the tool bar of your Internet browser, the heart has unlimited room and is equal in size to the wide universe. There will always be room for one more. Room to love even the unlovable, a place in the heart just for them.

Interestingly enough, unlike real estate in the outside world that increases in price due to scarcity, heart real estate tends to increase in capacity the more we give it away. Many of us have heart tenants but we also try and store the old junk in there, which makes the tenants uncomfortable at best but also irritates them and soon they go looking for new digs that are cleaner and more comfortable. Keeping the clutter and junk out of your heart is an everyday task just as cleaning and dusting.

When Christ said, "love those who persecute you and despitefully use you.." he wasn’t just telling us how to be saintly, He was showing us how to keep the junk out of our hearts and how to allow even the unlovable in. There is a place for everyone and everything.

After surviving a very painful divorce I at one time vowed I would never marry again and began to make plans for a single life. Then there was Shelley. Being with her early on was both wonderful and terrible. Terrible only because I had already started to store unworthy things in my heart and the thought of being hurt again was beyond imagination. On one star-filled summer night in a close embrace, we shared our innermost fears. In a profound reverence, she whispered to me that she was hurt-able. Lying there so completely in love, with my heart wide open, with her in my arms, I realized I was too. I had moved out all the junk that didn’t belong there and had made room for a new tenant in my heart. But, Shelley was not just a tenant. I had given her the keys and the deed. Free to roam where she chose and stay forever. As a good heartlord, I provide her with everything I can to ensure her peace, comfort, well being, security and happiness. I want her to stay forever and never ever leave.

Life is full of paradoxes and heart real estate is one of them. The more we give it away, the greater capacity we have to give it. The more tenants we have, the less room we have for junk. The more crowed our heart real estate becomes the more solitude, tranquility and peace will be ours.

Very special thanks to Jeff Howard my most dear and trusted friend who is always there with a profound word and a kick in the butt when needed.