When my daughters were little girls I loved to make up fairytales for them. One such story I wrote for them was called, “The Heart Rock”.

The abridged story goes like this…

Once upon a time, there lived a little flaxen-haired girl with a heart of gold. Her smile had the power to make flowers blossom and hearts melt in love. In the kingdom next to where she lived, there was a king with a heart of stone whose lands were dying. His peasants were sickly and the cattle weak. Believing that if he could own the little girl’s heart of gold he would have all the riches in the world, he ordered his minions to kidnap her. “Cut out her heart” he told his surgeon.

But the surgeon couldn’t do it. In the light of the young girl’s smile, his heart melted, and he let her escape with the promise to not leave the King’s land.

To the King’s surprise, not knowing the girl was wandering his lands, everything began to flourish. One day while out riding and surveying his lands which were suddenly verdant and rich with bounty, he met the young girl as she ministered to a sickly calf. In her loving hands the calf stood up and ran off to find its mother. The King was surprised. How did she do that?

He dismounted and approached the young girl. “Who are you?” he asked. And the young girl told him of being kidnapped and released by the surgeon who could not cut out her heart.

For a moment, a blinding fury raged through the king’s heart. He would have the surgeon beheaded. And as the black clouds of his anger passed through him, the young girl watched his face turn red and the veins in his neck pop out. Not at all frightened by his ill-temper, she reached out and touched the king’s hand and smiled so softly and sweetly at him. “It’s okay,” she said. “I like living here. The people are so warm and loving and kind. What would make it perfect would be to have my family here too.”

The king stared at her in consternation. What? She was not frightened of his anger? And then he felt  an odd sensation as he felt the warmth of her hand against his skin and her smile touch his heart.

And his heart melted.

He didn’t have her captured again. Nor did he cut off the surgeon’s head. In fact, overcome with feelings of love he’d never experienced before, he held a feast in honor of the little girl and her golden heart and even named a school after her. Which was extraordinary because in the past he’d never allowed schools in his kingdom because he didn’t see the need to teach his peasants anything other than to scrabble in the hard earth of the land, scratching what living they could eke out from their labor.

Her family came to the feast and the king set aside land just for them and everyone lived happily ever after proving, that even a heart of stone can be warmed in loving hands.

Where are you letting the hard rock places in your life harden your heart? Are you willing to soften your heart and plant seeds of love in your life today?

Try this!

As you’re out and about during the day, go somewhere where the earth is covered in rocks (like a river bank, a rocky beach). Look for heart rocks on the ground. Pick one up, hold it in your hand and feel it warm up as you hold it. Let your warmth seep into the rock, and once it’s nice and warm, pass it on to someone else. As you pass the rock along, your warmth, aka Love, will be shared with the world around you.

Hearts will melt and love will grow.

Namaste.