I loved my college Anatomy and Physiology class. I loved standing over cadavers to discover the wonders of the human body. All of its intricate parts from the large bones and muscles to the tiny veins and arteries. God’s artistic masterpiece in its most stripped down form. The outward beauty was absent, but that only removed distraction from seeing the beauty of the miracle of the human body and how it works.
In my pregnancies with my kids, I loved getting ultrasounds. Though 20 plus years ago technology was not what it is today, I could still see in those pictures all of the baby organs and limbs doing their thing. The thumb-sucking, the kicking. And the heartbeat. I loved seeing their little hearts beating so quickly. The picture of life inside of me.
I specifically remember the tech showing us the four different chambers of the heart and explaining their function. Every medical term she used brought back memories of Anatomy and Physiology and the stark contrast between seeing a dead heart and observing a live one.
As many of you know, my son Mitchell was born with three heart defects. I remember saying through tears on the phone to my mom, “his heart is broken.” Surgery was the only option for survival. But after surgery, Jesus had other plans for healing Mitchell’s heart and brought him home to heaven to give him a brand new one.
Years later, my dad had to have a triple bypass on his “broken” heart and my father-in-law found out that he had a heart defect caused by scarlet fever when he was a child that he’d never known about.
The thing about hearts is we all have one. And if we’re walking around then it would appear that our hearts are healthy. But as we all know, that is not always the case. Many of us have issues with our hearts that we aren’t even aware of. Others of us have issues that we ARE aware of that affect our hearts – high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, smoking, etc. etc. The question is, do we do anything about it or do we gamble that we won’t be that next cadaver with a dead heart?
Our physical hearts are obviously important. Essential to life. But what about our spiritual hearts? What about the heart of us that is who we are at our core? The heart that dictates how we respond in any given situation. The heart that feels and sympathizes and cares. The heart that loves. What condition is THAT heart in? Is it healthy, broken, or even dead?
Just as we need to watch for signs and symptoms with our physical heart, we also need to pay attention and watch for signs that show us what our inner heart’s condition is. Are there symptoms coming out in our actions and attitudes that tell us we have a “heart problem”?
What’s on the inside eventually comes out. The problem within will become the problem with out. Even if we try to ignore it or hide it or wish for it to just go away. We can’t do those things with the heart in our bodies and we absolutely can’t do that with the heart in our souls. We can’t go and run five miles and hope that will fix a heart condition. And we can’t do even “spiritual tasks” to cover our broken inner hearts and pretend that the issue doesn’t exist. Hearts need fixing and attending to. They need healing.
A healthy heart will still feel pain. My chest hurts when my anxiety flares up even though doctors call my heart “pristine”. Health doesn’t mean the absence of grief or frustration or failure. It just allows the inner heart to respond in a healthy way. In a way that doesn’t do more damage to itself or others. A healthy heart looks to God for its each and every “beat”, its every move, its every response. It loves God and people more than time and things. It’s not perfect, but it is well, and soft and pliable and ready for the next tough workout.
The safest, healthiest place for a baby’s heart is in its mother’s womb. Close to her heart. Hearing the heartbeat of its life giver.
That’s our safest and healthiest place, too. Next to the heart of God. Listening to His heartbeat. Knowing that He is our life giver.
And, to quote Sonny and Cher, the beat goes on…
Deuteronomy 6:5 – Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Psalm 19:14 – May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Luke 6:45 – A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
