Urban legend tells us that we only use about 10% of our brains.
But after reading an article in Scientific American and recognizing how active our entire brains are at all times to not only think but to keep us alive and functioning, I would concur with them that “Ultimately, it’s not that we use 10 percent of our brains, merely that we only understand about 10 percent of how it functions.”
It’s more an issue of exercising and feeding our brains to increase their capacity to think, reason and remember. Putting in more than 10% effort towards maintaining and expanding its capabilities. (Strong note to self…)
The same could be said for each part of ourselves.
Our bodies. (Another note to self…)
Our hearts. (Sigh…)
Conveniently, I’m going to skip the body and go straight to the heart. 🙂
If it’s not already obvious, I’m not talking about the muscle beating inside our chests.
I’m talking about the heart that has the capacity to grow until the day we die. That place where love, compassion, empathy and kindness dwell. Home to our character and integrity and who we truly are at our core.
There are no limits to the ways it can improve and change. It’s the “muscle” that God most wants to massage and work on in us so that with every “beat” it pumps out love for Him and those around us.
Like our brains and bodies, our hearts need to be exercised and fed to maximize their potential.
But what does that look like?
It’s not as obvious as the body’s gym or the mind’s intensive study.
It’s not a particular method or set of steps.
It’s just practice.
It’s waking up to a new day and asking Jesus to join us in it. To lean into His heart that we see in His word and to ask Him to put corrective lenses on our hearts’ eyes as we go about our day.
To ask for help in deliberately looking for ways to place a toe just over the edge of our comfort zones and show kindness, mercy and grace to the people we come across. To love the people in our homes with everything in us and extend that love to neighbors, friends and strangers.
Growing hearts look for needs and respond. They listen intently. They push past the comfort of “easy” and stretch into the territory of “difficult” for the benefit of another.
Every heart has its own flavor. Some quiet, some loud. Some introverted, some extroverted. But every single heart has a God-given purpose to affect the lives of others through love.
Let’s be each other’s cheerleaders, growing hearts that are running together on this track of life, constantly getting instruction from our ever-present Personal Trainer. Let’s not be afraid to venture into the uncharted territory of unexplored ways to extend His love to others. Let’s hold hands with eyes wide open to the opportunities and possibilities that Jesus will offer us and run headlong into the glorious unknown, feeling parts of hearts we never even knew existed.
Can you even imagine the results????
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13 – Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres…And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Proverbs 4:23 – Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Matthew 6:21 – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
