A Million Pieces

By Chris Dawson

Do you ever feel like your heart is in a million pieces? I'm not talking about being broken-hearted, but rather that your heart is spread out in so many places, with so many people, that pieces of it are with each of them…scattered here and there; all over the country; maybe even all over the world. With the use of the internet, it can be so easy. We meet and get to know people online. We grow to know and love them. We long to meet them and sometimes do. Then we wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often.

I feel that way more and more, as I continue to meet new people, and make new friends all over the country, and the world. I've felt that way after the two Heartbeat Conferences I've attended. I met people there that I have grown to love. I am a people person. I love to be alone, but I love being with people. I love making friends. And when I make friends, I love them deeply.

I quickly become attached – not in an unhealthy way, but I care so much. So when we have to part ways, geographically, even if for just a short time, a part of my heart goes with them. I live in Ohio, but pieces of my heart are in California, Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Florida, Kansas, Hawaii, for instance, and in many, many cities and towns here in Ohio, as well as in a couple of other countries. I have friends everywhere. It's such a blessing, but it can be painful at times, as well.

I often wish that everyone I know could just be in one place here with me so that we never have to say goodbye, and go through the pain of separation. Then I think, “Hey, It's going to be that way someday!” When we get to heaven, we will all be together – forever. There will be no separation. There will be no pain of saying goodbye. Praise God! I am so thankful for that!

I often think and wonder what it will be like in Heaven. I've heard that we'll always be together. We'll never have to say goodbye. We won't be lonely. A friend and I talk about living beside each other in our mansions so that we can see each other as often as we want. I think about my family living with or near me. We don't really know what that's all going to be like, but it's fun to dream and imagine it. The Bible does tell us that there will not be sorrow or pain in Heaven. So I take that to mean we'll not be separated again…from each other or from God. There is so much comfort in that for me.

So while I miss my dear friends in various places around the world here on earth, I have that hope that one day, we'll be together forever…never having to say goodbye. And my heart, that feels like it's torn into a million pieces now – will be whole.