My Sacre Coeur

I have a core. A sacred core. In fact, if you look around, you will discover you do too. These people who know us – sometimes better than we know ourselves. Our people, our posse, our cohorts, our partners in crime. They know us, love us, ground us, laugh with us, stabilize us, encourage us, center us, and help us muddle through thick and thin.

I have a core from my childhood. Women who have known me since my early days. (Yikes!) These women know where all my secrets are buried. They know all about my scary, awful and awkward years – and man, did those awkward years last decades. (The comforting thing is is that I know all about their awkward years too – she says with a satisfied smile.) They helped me through bad test grades, bad break-ups, bad dates and bad perms. They helped me through parents who “would never understand” and parents who were “soo embarrassing!”

I have a core from college. Women who have known me since my earliest tastes of freedom. These women repeatedly held my hair as I prayed to the porcelain god that I would never drink again. They helped me and I helped them through bad test grades, bad break-ups, bad dates and waaay bad perms (the 80’s were not kind to anyone’s sense of style, including my own). We dreamed together as we planned our futures after college. We were in each other's weddings – well I was in theirs, they are still waiting for mine, as is my mom, Lord love her.

These core people from childhood and college remain today just as valuable as they did the last day I spoke with them. If I were to see them today, no doubt I could pick back up with any of them as if none of the last 25 years had past by. You have that same story too. Look around. You do.

We have our current core too. Our adulthood core. The people who know us now. The ones who have seen us grow from young idealistic adults into the supposed mature leaders we think/hope/strive to be. We have started and restarted several careers with these people. They have helped us through bad bosses, bad break-ups, bad dates and unfortunately – bad perms (when will I learn?). They have supported our dreams and helped us get there. And they listened patiently as we vented when the dream shattered in a heap. Children are raised by some and so we buy endless amounts of unneeded candy/wrapping paper/whatever the kids are selling to show our support. (I have some cookie dough if there are any takers!) We love some of them, we live with some of them, we work with some of them and some we hang out with and invite over to watch ball games.

Core people – we are surrounded by them. We are shaped by them. We need them and they need us. They are central to us. You might say they are the center of us. Which is, in fact, right where you will find them –

In our center.

our core.

our heart.

our Coeur.

our Sacre Coeur.

our sacred heart.

It’s no mistake God put our heart, our sacred heart, in the center of our torso, the core of our body. It's the place where He dwells within us. It’s the strongest and most protected part of us. And the heart, the Coeur, is the most painful when it breaks. That’s why having a strong core is so important – people of history to turn to when the going gets rough and tumble.

So, this holiday season when you are giving thanks, remember your core, your sacred core – yours is bigger, longer and stronger than you think. And you are somebody’s sacred core too. There are people out there who have you as a key in their history. A rock that has stabilized their rough sea. And best of all, you are God's sacred core, His sacred heart. So even if you look around and think you see no core, see God. He is your core. He is your people of history.

Your sacre coeur - your sacred heart and His sacred heart - beating as One, inside your chest.