The Spirit of Love...

For a blood pumping organ, the heart has many divine, spiritual and supernatural facets...we understand that when we say our heart is breaking we do not mean literally, but figuratively, though physically it manifests itself in many ways. Oh the two are so connected...trauma is all in the mind they say, but we now know from years of psychiatric studies that while bruises may fade, bones may mend, scar tissue will form, that the psychological impact is unmapped.

The impact starts there in the folds and recesses of the brain and like the force of an atom bomb carries out, out, out and away in a blast force that travels for miles in concentric circles, creating a list of physical ailments a country mile long.

We are spiritual creatures...we crave answers...we were created so...isn't that magnificent? Created by a Father who knew we would seek our own way, our own answers and turn to everything but the God who loved us enough to give free will, to give the unending need to know, to see, to move beyond space and time for nothing more than to satisfy curiosity, to fill the need for speed, for adrenaline rushes.

"Because it is there," is attributed to George Mallory, which is a favourite. The need to conquer Mt. Everest in 1924, without the aid of technology today, because it was there. He perished without reaching the top, but died doing what he loved, what he needed.

'It's not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves.' Edmund Hillary. (Mt. Everest)

I sit this morning with a heart, figuratively full to bursting...tears fall from my eyes as I sit sipping my morning cup of heaven, in peace...the fire popping cheerily in the wood stove...I am warm, I am fed, I am content. The dreams, the goals of the future lay neatly folded and ready in my mind, in my heart and spirit...so much has occurred in this past year that I stand in wonder, in awe at the works of God's hand in my life, in the people He has brought my way, and I theirs...the incredible humans I've met who personify character, honour, kindness and compassion...and I am content.

God is not done with me yet my friends, and He is not done with you...

Do not get caught up in the 'couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't, can't...' move on that path you are on and watch the doors open and close...watch the windows swing wide, the path clear, the lights come on to guide the way...

'May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!' Psalms 20:4

We have been created to be...to live...to laugh...to, yes, love....created to pursue, to dream, to find OUR way, however that may look to each one. Oh my friends...how wondrous that we were made so unique that each one of us has our own perspective, our own unique dreams and goals...no two people will look at something the same way....a sunset may give me pause to stop, turn and gaze, to drink it all in and let it fill my heart...while my coworker turns when I wish to share this moment, and looks, shrugs and keeps on working.

When my children were small, they and my husband, my friend who has moved on to glory, would tease me as my heart would melt at kindness, compassion, love shown in commercials..as tears would trip and fall from my eyes and heart burst with gladness. Silly...necessary to my soul...unique to me...

I have had occasion these past few days to encounter hate and vile words again....the beauty of the situation is to be found in the stark contrasts between the largess of love and the hinderance, the impediment of hate.

Stunted hearts lay where hate lives...diminutive minds....measly and miserly, shrunken spirits.

Darkness rides on the shoulders of those who choose hate, who choose to control and subjugate for their own purposes, their own needs above others in all things. All areas of the life of an abuser suffer as the heart shrivels and shrieks in protest of the harm done, each beautiful piece of that heart turning black with poisonous thoughts and intents, with each strike of the hand...with each strike of gushing verbal venom...with each betrayal, each lie the heart shrinks down to the size of a pea (think the Grinch, appropriate to the season).

Oh dear treasures...how easy, how simple God has made the heart as He stands waiting for that waste of skin, in our eyes, His creation in His, to turn, to do one simple gesture that would start the heart to pumping again, to living, to shaking off the blackness covering and coating every inch.

It is that easy...and yet they see only the pain, the shame, the guilt and believe it would destroy, would drive them to the grave. Love covers a multitude of sins and the safety net is God himself...He waits patiently for the kind, and prays mightily for the one who has turned to evil...

I struggle once again to move thoughts that swirl, swim and demand to be spoken, to paper...to convey the Love that awaits each one...inside each of us resides that love...

This is the thought that has sprung to life this past week...that we need not search, need not look outwardly, or up to the heavens as I do quite often...that love lives within each one of us...God lives within each one of us. I do not know if I am speaking truth as deeply as I feel it but I know it, deep oh so deep inside my spirit, my soul, my heart...that God sits with us, walks with us, cries and grieves with us, for He is us...He made us in His image and deposited a little of himself in each one...we are created for greatness, for more, for better dear hearts.

My heart is full...full to bursting, I know and have my being because of a Father who loves incomparably, with a magnitude we cannot fully grasp...we can just faintly see it in all its glory. I believe the true light of love would burst our hearts, our minds...we are fragile beings spiritually...I have heard, seen those who do quite literally die of a broken heart...not wanting to live without the love of their life...so I suppose literally is actually a thing at times and oh, I want that kind of love...with all its heartache, with all its grace and compassion and passion.

Climb that mountain dear lost ones...dear treasures...find that landmark and climb your way out of the pit...love waits, life waits, joy waits, peace waits at the summit...just for you.