The Heart

I am pretty sure mine is physically not in great shape - my Dad died of heart disease at the age of 59. I am not working out regularly and I am carrying more weight than I should be, although that is slowly coming off - woohoo!

However, cardiology is not the direction I am going here. I am fascinated by the capacity of the human heart. A wall plaque hangs in my daughters room that reads, "think with your heart." That really is a goal I have for my kids. I want them to be heart driven. I want them to be so in touch with their heart that compassion, empathy and love overflow out of it. I want them to choose to do the thing that their heart knows is right even when their logic is screaming no. This is scary because when one lives from a place of passion/heart life gets messy.

I am learning to live with messy. Never thought I would. I am an odd mix of really spontaneous and out there coupled with a little OCD that needs my i's dotted and my t's crossed. Messy has never been my favorite because it does not fit into cute storage containers.
But life, the great teacher, has me transforming and I like it.

I am sure if most of the people that I interact with could see into my heart and see the muddled mess they would fear for me. They would counsel me or caution me. They would suggest I 'tighten' things up a bit. They may suggest I get rid of some things and replace them with different things. Lots and lots of advice about how my heart should look. But, honestly, I've never felt more alive in my life, right in the middle of the mess of life. With fewer defined things ever. With life plans that are in transition. With faith that is being called to something bigger and new but yet defined. With relationships that cause me pause. But there is freedom here. There is a sense of real, raw, nitty gritty life. I've been longing for this. I want to feel my heart beat in my chest and my pulse race. And I am.

When we open our hearts, life gets risky. But from my little corner of the world, life gets really worth living. Don Miller, in Searching for God Knows What, writes: What if the deepest longings of your heart were there for a reason? Small minded boxed in formulas of modern religion were not the truth? The gospel of Jesus was not "safe" after all, but full of intrigue, passion and romance."

Now we're talking.