It was only after my doctors discovered I had a severe leaking Mitra valve in my heart that I realised more than ever the important part my heart played to keep me alive. Fortunately, this impairment was found, and very quickly I had two Mitra clips inserted in my heart to stop the leakage.
The human heart, less than half a kilogram when fully grown and only a little larger than our fist, beats seventy-two times a minute, one hundred thousand times a day, forty million times a year. Each day it pumps the equivalent of 14,400 pints of blood weighing six tons through more than sixty thousand miles of our circulation system.
Cruden’s Concordance of the Bible describes the heart this way: “The word heart is used in Scripture as the seat of life or strength; hence it means mind, soul, spirit, or one’s entire emotional nature and understanding.” Proverbs 4:23 encourages us to use our heart this way: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Our heart seems to be very closely linked to all our emotions and feelings we experience in our lives. Sometimes when we have negative experiences, we sense our hearts hardening to keep us from being hurt. Unfortunately, this hardening only prolongs our problem, and we can become isolated and critical because the toughness generated keeps us from being healed.
I have read that like a great city, man has an under-ground life. It is not visible as the surface man is, yet the hidden man of the heart, as Peter calls him, is a real man. He is, indeed, the hidden man. Peter had been concerned about husbands and wives over adorning themselves with outward apparel and jewellery and had written them this letter, part of which said: “Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing; rather, let your adornment be your inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:3, 4)
Confucius the Chinese philosopher and ethical teacher (551-479 BC) wrote: “To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.”
On the other hand, our hearts can tell us we have feelings of love, hope, joy and peace, qualities that will assist us in living effective and Christ-like lives.
When Sir Walter Raleigh was led to the block, his executioner asked him if his head lay right? Raleigh answered, “It matters little, my friend, how the head lies, provided the heart is right.” Arising from this comment come the questions, what does your heart speak, how does your heart lie?
May we each seek inspiration so that our hearts will be encouraged, our spirits lifted, and our souls touched. May we seek gentle moments that will illuminate a wondrous path to joy, contentment, forgiveness, prayer, hope and faith.
Bill Gillard