Heart

You know when you're going along as normal and suddenly something is said that grabs your attention like an amp turned up to eleven?  That happened to me recently when Romans 5 was read from the pulpit, and it was this particular fragment (verse 5) that grabbed me:

...God's love has been poured into our hearts...

There is a lot more beauty in Romans 5 that was also read that day, but I couldn't get over this picture of God's love being poured into my heart, my literal heart.  It took me back to that beautiful section of the Eucharist liturgy I used to recite each Sunday in my Anglican days, that Christians worldwide have been reciting for centuries, that goes like this:

Priest: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.

And it took me back to my yoga class where the instructor provides frequent exhortation to "lift your heart" or "open your heart." Which is yoga-speak for "pull your shoulders back and look up."   (It doesn't sound as cool that way, does it?  See, that's why we need yoga-speak.) 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
(Col. 3:15)

And I thought, what's the deal with the heart anyway?  Human language is saturated with references to the heart -- this word we use to mean the organ in our chest that pumps blood through our body, keeping us alive, and that we also use to mean something much more emotional, spiritual, or deep.  And it seems like these two meanings are mysteriously intertwined.  I've certainly had the experience of physical heartache accompanying emotional heartache, and it's likely that you have too. 

I got this image of my physical heart pumping in my chest -- pumping ceaselessly like it does, moment by moment by moment.  And of God's love having been poured into that heart, which is ceaselessly pumping that love moment by moment by moment.  And I was suddenly in touch with a feeling of my whole heart (physical and emotional) being filled with God's love, and with the knowledge that my deepest craving is to be fully open to that love (for myself, for others, for God) that has been poured into my heart.  

The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart. (Romans 10:8)

Because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

So love is in my chest, pumping ceaselessly, having been poured there directly by God.  I felt my heart beat and felt love there, right in my chest, coursing through my entire body and soul -- keeping my body AND my soul alive.  Blood and love, both coursing through my entire being.  Giving me exactly what I need for life and happiness.  Love. 

For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts.
(2 Corinthians 4:6)