Advance the front line of your heart

Paradoxically, in the midst of this great national turmoil, one critical thing that is needed from us all is an open heart. Can you move through these times with an open heart, or will your heart close? Some may think that “open” means “unprotected”, but here’s another way to see: openness can also infer alertness, and alertness grants deep protection and ferocity. Whoever was told to stay alert and guard the tribe during the night, and to do so, they closed their eyes and ears?

Open senses perceive; closed senses do not. An open heart perceives; a closed heart does not. Is your heart open? Can love get in? Can love come out? If the heart turns brittle or numb and closes, love is impeded because it moves best through strong softness.

For the record, “strong softness” is supple.

Suppleness is strong — often stronger than brittleness. Supple trees bend in the storm while the brittle trees fall over. How are you keeping your heart supple to the pain, to the hopes, to the dreams? How are you keeping your heart supple so it does not numb over or calcify? Brittle, numb hearts grow calcified; they do not take in, they do not give out. A brittle or numb heart at this time is a type of spiritual defeat.

You might not be on the front lines, but there is a front line of your heart today, that edge where you can push forward into growth or retreat into old patterns and comfort. No matter who we are, we all have a front line in our heart. As the protests unfold, where are you asked to risk, to sacrifice for love, to grow beyond your known limits? Within your heart, are you pressing forward into growth or retreating into comfort? Are you struggling for love and hope or are you capitulating to cynicism? If you are not on the physical front lines but are pushing your heart to grow more into love, into justice, then you are in spiritual solidarity with those on the physical front lines. This is one deep way to contribute — to advance your own front line, to stay in spiritual solidarity. However, if you retreat into comfort, bitterness, or despair, you have dropped the cause.

Stay in solidarity with us. Advance the front line of your heart. As you watch the protesters and the youth of our nation work and sacrifice for a better reality, stand in solidarity with them. Advance into your own discomfort and growth, and then ask yourself: How can I turn this advancement of my own front line into action?

Advance your own front line. Turn it into action. This is a spiritual solidarity. With all of us.