February is heart month in the United States and a month I am considering how to nourish a spiritual healthy heart.How can I cultivate my heart this season? How can I go deeper?February 22 is also Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten season. How best can I prepare my heart of my Lenten journey? How will my heart be healthier by Easter? A great fellow blogger, Jen Ferguson, is exploring the word Cultivate on Thursdays on her blog, Finding Heaven. She invited me to guest post there today. I am excited to have Jen as a guest blogger here to add to this discussion in a few weeks.Please join me over at Jen’s blog and read more about cultivating your heart. Click hereHere is a teaser:“Cultivate my heart, Lord. Break up its hardness and plant your harvest of love within me.The word cultivate scares me too. It tells me I can't just cultivate the surface to be transformed - I have got to go deep and that may hurt a little. I am not sure what will happen if God enters my heart’s darkest … [Read more...]
E stands for Exam – Acing the Final Exam
FSA (Photo credit: gibsonsgolfer)Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. E = ExamineI hate tests. I was a good student in school and love learning, so that may surprise you about my revulsion on test taking. But that sitting down and squeezing my brain matter all over a paper to answer unanticipated questions that will determine my future….YIKES – makes me shiver again remembering them.My most dramatic test experience was the Nursing exam. In 1972, the national test we needed to pass to become RNs was still given on paper. In fact we took six tests over two very long days. I sat in a large metal windowless building on The Ohio State Fairgrounds. (Yes weird as we are in … [Read more...]
Christ, Make a Home in my Heart – Lectio Divina
Heart-shaped cloud (Photo credit: aivas14)“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.” Ephesians 3:17 (NLT)Christ will make his home in your heartsLord Jesus, come live with me.I want You to feel welcomed in my heart.To find a warm inviting place to dwell.To be so close to the center of my being. To make a home in my heart.Lord Jesus, I put out the welcome mat of trust and watch for Your arrival.I am in awe and humbled that You actually want to reside within me.I anticipate light, laughter, and lots of love to fill every chamber of my heart. I don’t want to hide anything from You.Come and stay awhile. No, what I mean to say is: come and stay with me eternally.Not as a guest, but reside here forever.My home. Your home. One.My heart. Your heart. One.May our hearts beat as one. … [Read more...]
Weather and Attitude – Quote of the Week
Image via Wikipedia“You bring your own weather to the picnic.”Harlan Coben, writer … [Read more...]
Healthy Heart Spirituality
Image via WikipediaI listened to his heart. The beats were fast. His pulse was irregular. His skin was flushed and sticky with perspiration.Fifty years old and recently released from prison, the man came into the free medical clinic where I volunteer as a nurse. He patiently waited through all the paperwork and for his given appointment time.But he was very sick.Too sick for our little clinic. We quickly sent him over to the hospital for care. His heart sent us messages that something was terribly wrong. Hearts fascinate me. Did you know:· The average adult heart beats 72 times a minute; 100,000 times a day; 3,600,000 times a year; and 2.5 billion times during a lifetime.· Though weighing only 11 ounces on average, a healthy heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day.· A kitchen faucet would need to be turned on all the way for at least 45 years to equal the amount of blood pumped by the heart in an average lifetime.· Every … [Read more...]
Celebrating My “D” – My 500th Post
Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. What does the letter D bring to my mind and heart?Don’t you love coincidences or what many of us call them God-incidents?The letter D symbolizes the Roman numeral 500. Participating with Patty Wysong’s meme and writing a blog once a week based on a letter of the alphabet has been fun for me and I hope for you. This week is the letter “D” and as I began to think about that letter, I was amazed to realize that this would be my 500th post on this blog. 500 = DNow that is a God-incident!The number “500” has other meanings also.I read that the number 500 is used 27 times in the Bible.This number represents infinity to the Irish and a … [Read more...]
Trusting God – Lectio Divina
Image via WikipediaWhat they trust in is fragile; what they rely on is a spider’s web. Job 8:14 (NIV)A spider’s web.Lord, once again I put my trust in something other than You.I turn my focus outside of You and lay my hope into human hands.Even worse, I take control all by myself with false self-confidence that I could do it on my own.I know that foundation is weak,I know it may fail even before I begin.I hold my breath…Take one stop onto that thin ice…and think maybe… maybe this time….Yet like this verse I put the weight of my burdens on the fragile spider web and expect it to hold up.Lord, the world weaves a tapestry of spider webs. The sinister spider invites me to believe in the safety on its web. I see the fascinating intricate patterns masquerading as strengths. I cling to them before their stickiness adheres to me. I trust in what I easily see instead of what I know to be true.Or I grip onto my own plans instead of waiting for Your clear guidance.Your word in the book of Job is … [Read more...]
A Swedish Blessing – Quote of the Week
Fear less, hope more;Eat less, chew more;Whine less, breathe more;Talk less, say more; hate less, love more;and all good things are yours.Swedish Proverb … [Read more...]