Borrowed Heartbits: Doctor Marigold

Doctor Marigold had lost his young daughter, and renewed his joy in adopting
another daughter. The story is short, but the emotions are big if you get a chance
to read it! This quote appears in my newest manuscript.

I sit and watch my son light up with stories of fondness and joy, and my  heart nearly bursts. Even more so than if he were always caught up in happy things. His journey before gives these happy moments so much more shine, so much more understanding of the borrowed heartbit from Dickens' for today. 

It was not too long ago that my son and I had sat in the very same spot while loneliness consumed his little body. Heartache is the most hurtful of things, and while I wish it away when it creeps upon my children in those treacherous moments, when the present becomes the past and the future opens onto a new season against the backdrop of heartache, newfound joy appears that much sweeter.

My written stories have shown me the depth of Doctor Marigold's proclamation above, and my life stories have felt this deeply. No fictional character can truly appreciate conclusion, joy, love, without journeying through a place bankrupt of it all. And, while I want to protect my babies and keep them free from any harm, it is in the endurance of messy life that the greatest heart-training takes place.

I think upon solid wisdom, when I think on this:

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Isaiah 61:1-3

I pray that my children's journeys will prove fruitful and solid like oaks planted for God's splendor, no matter the muck and mire they wade through--how much more their joy will abound.