Never leave your heart behind

Well, I can't say I didn't try...It's late and I really should be going to bed; aw, just one little post! Ok, ok, you got me.
Recently I've come into a season where I feel really revived, like the important things in my life are getting my attention. I don't really know what happened before, or what caused me to stop letting my heart be free, but I know that it feels really good to get oxygen to the heart again and let it live.
I had some people ask me the dreaded "what's your major?" question the other day; which of course was followed by my response (I guess it doesn't matter how I respond to it, they all react the same when they hear I'm an English major) and the standard "Oh...that's interesting. What do you want to do with that?" And again, it really doesn't matter what I answer, they are clearly saying that they don't think I can be a serious person and study something that isn't business or medicine. Yuck.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't care how much criticism I get or how many people tell me it's a bad decision, I WILL NOT sell out and study finance or something terrible like that. Don't people realize there is more to life than corporations? If you were to ask me to choose between being Donald Trump's assistant and being an author who lives on 1/4 of his salary, there would be no hesitation at all. I won't sell out to what people say is important.

Life is important, and life is not making six figures or driving a lexus; life is taking the time to enjoy a painting, or a walk with your sister, or to know what motor oil smells like. Life is being able to sit for hours just imagining what it would be like to live in the old west in the pioneer days; life is telling your kids what it was like out there.
I just get aggravated when it seems so many people fail to see the simple, beautiful things that make life so special. Maybe it's just me; in fact, it probably is. But I am a man who has to live from the heart and I'm going to fight for that. I won't apologize either.
But even though the frustration is, well...frustrating, it makes it so much sweeter when you find a heart that beats like yours. When I meet people who are more interested in beauty than money, and want to know God with all of their heart and soul, it makes me feel alive and it feels nice to breathe and talk with other living people.
I guess I'm still figuring out how to live from the heart; I know that I don't ever want to get away from it. It seems to be a common story in our time though, the tale of the 50-year old man who once wanted to be a writer but gave it up to pursue his career; because he listened to the mocking voices around him. A huge part of your heart becomes like the west wing of an old mansion, boarded up and forgotten, never visited and never used. I don't want that to ever happen to me.
It's a hard battle to fight, but it's worth it. So many important things are worth fighting for; I pray we all have the courage to defend them.

Deep within there is a chamber
Large and spacious, filled with beauty
Wells and fountains pour forth colors
Of every shade that show us what it means to live.
Do not despise the flowing river
Though its hues are wild and tameless
Do not for fear of drowning
Die of thirst alone and dry in pale tones of black and white.