Keys

What's more important to you and why?

The keys to your heart or the keys to your home?

I have no easy answer for this. Both keys are extremely sacred and special to me. Both keys involve trust, immense amounts of trust. Likely for many, this isn't true.

Growing up, I will never forget my dad's philosophy on locking our house..."If someone needs to steal it, they must need it more than we do." Our house was only locked when we went on vacation, twice a year. And often, that was when our house was noticeably broken into.

Have times changed? Do we covet our personal belongings and possessions?

When I first bought my house, the previous owner never locked her house. The day that I was suppose to walk through the house, the realtor didn't show and the neighbor told me to go in anyway. I convinced her to walk through with me so that I wasn't accused of trespassing or stealing anything. After I bought my house, I didn't always lock my house either. It wasn't until the dissolution of my marriage that I began to lock my house. I changed the locks. In the past couple years I've finally stopped making sure the windows were only opened to the safety locks when I was gone. I will even randomly not lock the house if I'll be gone for a short time. But I still lock it if I'm gone for longer periods. The doors are always locked when I'm in for the night. My house is my home. It's mine (well and the mortgage company's for now!).

The key to my heart...something much less tangible. It isn't physical in the sense that you can put it on your key chain. I'm not sure how many people I've ever truly trusted with the key to my heart. Even some of my best friends or ex's, over the years, I may have shut off parts of my heart. Parts that I no longer want to subject or make vulnerable or be able to bear the pain of others. Pain of disappointment.

From an emotional standpoint, the key to my heart is much more important. I have insurance to replace anything in my home. I have memories to remind me of what I may have had if something happens. But the key to my heart is sacred. It unlocks the vulnerability that very few will see or should see. Both are very important to me, both that without trust I hold intensely.

Who holds the key to your heart? Who holds the key to your house?