Great Heart (#3)

I am the one who... perseveres through the winter, knowing that spring will come again.

Core meaning: perseverance, hope

This card came out of my days in hospital chaplaincy training.  I used the lion picture as my totem for working on the floors - a way of calling on the power of the lion spirit to give me 'gravitas' as a fledgling chaplain.

This card was originally titled "Warrior Heart" and I dedicated it to my mother's perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds - both in her past and present life.  When I took the card as my own, I renamed it "Great Heart", after a song by Johnny Clegg, since it is more about the persevering great spirit than the warrior going into battle.

Courage does not always roar. 
Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I will try again tomorrow." ~ Anonymous

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. 
You wait and watch and work:
You don't give up. ~ Anne Lamott



Great Heart (Johnny Clegg)

The world is full of strange behaviour
Every man has to be his own saviour
I know I can make it on my own if I try
But I'm searching for a Great Heart to stand me by
Underneath the African sky
A Great Heart to stand me by
 I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
To hold and keep me by
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
Under African skies

Sometimes I feel that you really know me
Sometimes there's so much you can show me

There's a highway of stars across the heavens
There's a whispering song of the wind in the grass
There's the rolling thunder across the savanna
A hope and a dream at the edge of the sky
And your life is a story like the wind
Your life is a story like the wind

I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
To hold and stand me by
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
Under African skies
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
I see the fire in your eyes
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
That beats my name inside

Sometimes I feel that you really know me
Sometimes there's so much you can show me

I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
Guk a 'mzimba (body grow old)
Sala 'nhliziyo (but heart remain behind)


Montage of Lion pictures - recommended
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7gSIkGjM7g
Johnny Clegg performance - see the man behind the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_9xtCbRgH4