Hearts. . . . What is it about those small, rather ugly looking organs that are so special to us Humans? It seems rather odd that we would chose that particular organ as a symbol of love. Around this time of year we pass out little candies that have been formed into heart like shapes, and send the special people in our lives cards with red, pink, and white hearts haphazardly printed all over them. But why a heart? Why not any other organ like, say, the stomach?? Why say "I 'heart' you" instead of "I 'lung' you"? This morning I got to pondering this and I think that I have come up with a bit of an explanation. . . .
You see, the heart is the center of our being. It may not be actually the center in literal terms, but its continuous and even pumping is what keeps our blood flowing and our bodies alive. If it beats too fast it becomes laborious for us to breathe, our sight might become slightly blurred and unfocused. . . we become weak. And if it beats too slowly. . . we die. In battle, if you want to kill someone, you aim for the heart. And even in other situations, if you wish to cause someone pain you hurt those who that person loves, damage what holds their heart, and they will surely be wounded as well.
And so, we Humans are always trying to protect this central piece of our existence. Physically and spiritually. In armor there's usually always some kind of breastplate, or something to protect your chest. . . and your heart. When caught in the middle of falling debris or shattering glass, our instincts tell us to curl up so that our backs will take most of the damage, instead of our front where our heart and many of our other organs would be easily harmed. And spiritually we protect our hearts by not opening up to people, not allowing ourselves to get close for fear that our heart might get hurt. We try to drive through life on the most comfortable, least bumpy roads we can afford by easing out of situations or relationships that we fear are collapsing inward. Or by not letting ourselves dream too big, because as the saying goes, "what goes up, must come down". We're afraid to let our hopes and passions soar too high because that would mean a greater plummet in the end. But this has been something that God has been talking to me about recently.
You see, I am a daydreamer. Not a day goes by that I don't have something or another to dream about and hope for. But as a result I have had many a hard fall. And so I've gotten into a habit of, instead of allowing my imagination and passions to run free, stuffing them down by telling myself that the hope that I have isn't going to happen, and then I'll list off to myself all of the reasons why. But God doesn't want that. He wants me to trust in His perfect plan, and trust that HE is going to protect my heart from that sudden fall. You see, often times, when we are trying so very hard to keep our heart safe and unharmed, it's like we hide ourselves away in a tower with it, locking all of the doors and throwing away the key so that no one (not even ourselves) can ever hurt it again. But as we stand there next to our precious heart, stroking it tenderly and trying to do all within our power to make it as comfortable as it can possibly be, we realize that we haven't truly protected it from ourselves since we're right there with it. And so, in a moment of pure terror, we toss it out of the tower window and into the moat far below and feel very proud of ourselves for having finally "saved" our heart. But this isn't what God wants for us! He asks us to give Him our heart so that He can TRULY keep it safe and unharmed. And then, if we are truly trusting in Him and desiring His will, we have the freedom to let our dreams soar up high into the sky. And if they do fall. . . He will be right there beneath us to catch us and hug us, and then gently toss us back up into the sky again.
So walk the sky with me, won't you? And we can soar on eagles wings with our Father. :)
Assr vísa ykkarr or∂. (God guide your words.)
~ElizabethMarieKauffman~
