Heartbreaker

A Facebook friend of mine recently posted a picture of her newborn nephew. She added the caption “He’s going to be such a heartbreaker.” Why do we describe handsome boys or pretty girls as future heartbreakers? Why do we associate popularity in middle school with breaking hearts in high school? And furthermore, why do we promote this as a good thing? Having one’s heart broken, whether by people or events, is not a fun thing. Ask anyone. Heartbreak hurts, just like breaking your foot or arm hurts.  Just like physical injuries (breaks, sprains, stubbed toes), we are all bound to experience a broken heart at some point in our lives. But that doesn’t mean we want to. And why would we want our children or ourselves to be the source someone else’s heartbreak? It makes no sense to me.

                As a child, I suppose I was pretty enough. My parents, grandparents and a few close family friends always told me how beautiful I was, though I suspect I could have been very ugly and they still would have seen me as beautiful. But I was never drop-dead gorgeous. As a teen, I was quiet, studious, and a tad socially awkward. I was not a heartbreaker by any stretch of the imagination. I had friends and acquaintances that were described as such; they were beautiful girls who spoke easily to boys, flirted without meaning to, and left a trail of crushed boys in their wake. But I was not that girl. For a while, I was disappointed that I wasn’t like them. Of course, we all hope to be the girl that all the boys chase, but some of us aren’t.  In fact, I have never been overly popular with the guys, at least not like that. In college I hung out with mainly guys at church (there weren’t many college aged girls there), but they were all the big-brother type to me. Which is fine.  In fact, now I am glad I wasn’t a heartbreaker.

                I’d prefer to be a heart-mender - the person who bandages people up enough to get them to the doctor who can truly fix them up. I want to be a person who comforts the broken and gives them hope that there is a Physician out there who will completely mend their broken hearts. In fact, He will do such a good job at mending it, they will be better than new. Heartbreakers tear down, whether they mean to or not. Heart-menders build up, and take you to the Doctor. That’s what I want to be.