Heart Song

Many years ago, I watched Oprah interview a young man, at the time 11 years old. He had dysautonomic mitochondrial myopathy along with all his siblings. All three older than him, all three had succumbed to this awful disease – what a challenge for the mom. He had written a book which I subsequently bought, and it is called Heart Songs. His name was Mattie Stapenek.

Doing a search on Wiki, this is what it says : Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek (July 17, 1990 – June 22, 2004), known as Mattie J.T. Stepanek, was an American poet (or as he wanted to be remembered as “a poet, a peacemaker, and a philosopher who played”) who published seven best-selling books of poetry and peace essays. Before his death (at the age of 13) he had become known as a peace advocate and motivational speaker.

And as I read this, the first thought going through my mind is WOW! What an incredible young man! I was going to write about music and how amazingly influential it is in our lives, but now…

This young man, who lived but 13 years, had become an advocate for peace and a motivational speaker. I’m including the link to Wiki here so that you can go read everything about him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattie_Stepanek So inspirational.

What comes to mind is Ephesians 4:31-32 31 “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

I have to include this beautiful poem written by him when he was just a young child and it’s called Heartsong

I have a song, deep in my heart,
and only I can hear it.
If I close my eyes and sit very still
it is so easy to listen to my song
When my eyes are open
and I am so busy and moving and busy,
if I take time and listen very hard,
I can still hear my heartsong.
It makes me feel happy.
Happier than ever.
Happier than everywhere,
and everything and everyone in the world.
Happy like thinking about
Going to Heaven when I die.
My heartsong goes like this-
I love you! I love you!
How happy can you be!
How happy can you make this whole world be!
And sometimes it’s other
Tunes and words, too.
But it always sings the same special song.
But do you know what?
All people have a special song
Inside their hearts!
Everyone in the whole world has a special heartsong.
If you believe in magical, musical hearts.
And if you believe you can be happy
Then you, too, will hear your song.

I think the message here is strong. Be kind. Be compassionate. Be understanding. And believe in magic – that kind of magic that can transform our world to one where we all see life as this little boy who had everything to be bitter about, but was just a joyful and inspiring soul. One who came to teach so much through so much adversity and managed to shine his light out into the world. So, listen to your heart song and most importantly share it with each other.