Tell Me: Facing the Heartbreak that Renewed You

Are you still feeling confusion and pain left in the aftermath of a devastating heartbreak? 

In this episode, you’ll explore the poem, Tell Me, written by Lia Girard, and consider how it illuminates the power of renewal that's inherent in heartbreak. Lia invites you to share what demolished your insides and search for how it rebuilt your hope. 

Today’s episode offers: 

- An invitation to share what hurt your heart

- Support for finding the good in what felt so bad

- A reminder that you are always growing

You’ll also be given a word, inspired by the poem, to ponder as your week unfolds. 

Lia Girard is a poet, writer, author, wife, and mom whose feature articles are found on iBelieve.com, Crosswalk.com, and other inspirational platforms. 

You can explore her poetry, often inspired by the wonders of nature, on Instagram: @wildpeace.poetry. 

If you love the show, or any episode resonates with you, please rate or review the show on your favorite platform, or email your feedback to lia@wildpeacepoetry.com.

Transcript

Speaker 0:02

Hello, and welcome to Heart of a Wildflower. This is a space that invites you to slow down, reconnect, and find beauty even in hard seasons. I'm Lia Girard, your host, and I'm so glad you're here. In each episode, we'll consider an aspect of love, longing or life, such as heartache, healing, or hope, by reading and exploring a poem together. We'll end with a thoughtful word or phrase to contemplate as your week unfolds. Today, let's breathe in a slightly longer poem I wrote titled Tell Me. I wrote it for you to empower you if someone broke your heart in the past. I wrote it for me to speak my truth. I want you to know it's okay to talk about the things that demolished and rebuilt you. Even if you think it's been so long that you should already be completely healed. Maybe you still feel it, and maybe you always will. But when you're ready, perhaps when you've had enough time or are starting to understand the mark it's made, I invite you to write it down or say it out loud. Plain honesty can open a path to forgiving, but you don't have to forget. Because I know firsthand that when your heart is broken, it's not wise to invite the same pain from the same source in the same way. But forgiving it releases its power over you. It lets you live above it and free. And maybe even find something new blossoming, where the ground once felt dry and cracked. Tell me, and maybe you can say it now, the way it ground your insides down, the times you knelt and nearly drowned, the years there was no solid ground, and yet you felt a presence there, a ray of sunlight on your hair, while heartbreak skinned your insides bare. And maybe nightly you would pray for God to wash your grief away, smearing letters with your tears, wrestling all your greatest fears, holding tight to those you love, you begged for healing from above, learning through this long, hard time that life is never one straight line. And now when you look back, you see how wounds by carving set you free, how slowly in your Maker's hands your soul was given legs to stand, and scars left on your heart will show the beauty that this pain bestowed. Maybe you can tell it now about when anger made no sound, through hours spent alone face down, because you know the grace it grew, and how it helped you to renew the way you value what is true. Does it ever seem to you that everyone's doing great except you? Believe me, it's a common assumption, and maybe it's because a lot of us out here are covering up pain in all sorts of ways, just to get through our days and nights. We force ourselves to not cry, or even just to get out of bed so we can make and meet goals, take care of others, pay bills, tend to our health, and on and on. Stuffing anything that hurts to express because it hinders your happiness is understandable. It's a survival mechanism. And while some people may call this masking, dissociating, or avoidance, it can also be a positive behavior of people who look for what's possible, especially when things aren't making sense at all. All this to say, I get why you may have wanted to not talk about something that broke your heart. I've lived it. Maybe you think you'll be exposed, feel vulnerable or be judged. In fact, this all may happen. But what else can also happen is that you feel less afraid, understood, liberated, and self-aware. That's why the first line in this poem is maybe you can tell it now. Because maybe now you're living beyond that particular season of pain, and maybe you talked about it while you were going through it, but haven't spoken of it since. I still believe that sharing what broke your heart and how you felt while enduring and surviving it can remind you of your own resilience. It can identify what fostered the capacity in you for compassion or authenticity. In other words, it cut you deep, but that depth now serves a new purpose. Along those same lines, I've always loved these lines found in Khalil Jabron's famous poem entitled On Joy and Sorrow. He says, The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. And is not the lute that soothes your spirit the very wood that was hollowed with knives? This is why my poem Tell Me says. And now when you look back, you see how wounds by carving set you free, how slowly in your Maker's hands your soul was given legs to stand, and scars left on your heart will show the beauty that this pain bestowed. You don't walk away from heartbreak intact or the same as you were before. You carry internal or maybe even external scars. But each one is a story worth telling. Giving it words is a way of honoring what brought you through. For me, it was how God upheld me when I had no legs to stand on, how sunshine showed up to surprise me during the storm. I hope you know that whatever broke your heart has changed you into someone even more lovely. Because you know what hurts, so you treat others well intentionally, and you're better at recognizing what's not best for you. So let's look back at the last lines of our poem today. Because you know the grace it grew, and how it helped you to renew the way you value what is true. I can't name what your heartbreak planted in you, but you can. And I hope you will, so you can continue growing. As we close, I'd like to leave you with a word from the poem to ponder, and that word is renew. Renewal is a miracle that's always happening in big and small ways, visible and invisible at times. And yes, our bodies are limited. It's true, our cells eventually slow down and stop renewing, but our perspective, our tenacity, our wisdom are all always renewing. Can you think of some aspect of you that heartbreak has changed for the better? And if you're going through heartbreak now, will you be brave and believe that renewal is on its way? Every heartbreak in time becomes an important part of your personal portrait of hope and renewal. Thank you for spending time with me today. I hope it offered you room to reflect and reconnect with yourself. If this episode spoke to you, please share it with a friend or drop me an email at lia@wildpeacepoetry.com. You can also find my poetry and message me on Instagram: @wildpeace.poetry. Until next time, keep blooming in your own wild and wonderful way.