Heart Matters Blog

“I’m going to need that.” I stood next to her bunk and held out my hands for the item.

 Tracy continued to lay strewn across her bed nonchalantly carving into the wall with her machete.

 “Hand me the knife.” I said more firmly.

Today you will be with me in paradise.

Luke 23:42

Paradise: A place of extreme beauty, supreme felicity and delight / a country or region of wonders and marvels / a place where one experiences perfect happiness, joy and bliss...heaven

Follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.

1^st Corinthians 11:1 

My Grandpa Simey was a gentle man of few words. In today's dog-eat-dog world his quiet leadership would probably be overlooked. But, a child's heart is drawn to quiet leadership like a moth to flame. At least that was the case for me. And judging by all of our old black and white photos - it was the case for my unc' as well. It didn't matter where Gramps was or what he was doing, we wanted to be there in his shadow.

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. 

Walter Winchell

I can’t imagine what life would be like without friends. My life has been so incredibly enriched by the vast variety of friends God has blessed my life with over the years. And it’s precisely that variety that I love most about friendship. Each one is a marvel and a gift...uniquely and divinely God-designed. Just like snowflakes, no two friends or friendships are the same.

Heart Matters Publishing is a team effort. There's not a blog that I write that is posted without my Editor, LuAnn Adams, loving eyes perusing it first. She not only dot's my i's and crosses my t's, she adds beautiful insight and suggestions that are a gift to me. So... it is with joy that together we post this collaborative effort. I am delighted to lift up not only LuAnn's editorial skills, but, her writing skills, as well.

Enjoy and Be Blessed Friends!

Julie

Winter is on my head...and down my boots...but eternal spring is in my heart. (my paraphrase)

Victor Hugo 

Winter blew in another foot of snow onto our already knee-deep supply. I'm beginning to think spring will never come. In fact, I can't help but wonder, after two miserable winters in a row, if we might not be entering a new Ice Age!!

We have become accustomed to traveling through life at lightning speed. The alarm clock rings and we hit the floor running. We fill every waking moment scurrying in three different directions. And we’re intentional about everything…we take business lunches so we can kill two birds with one stone. Even taking walks these days has morphed into exercise…no more leisurely strolls for us…we speed walk! For all of the time we spend penciling in our calendars and uploading our iPads and smartphones, somehow we still seem to be forever running late. And if you have kiddos, add in their piano lessons, play practice, ball practice and homework to squeeze in there somewhere. If we can find time to sit down together as a family for supper, we end up rehashing all the details of our chaotic lives, as we shovel our meal in as fast as we can, so we can all get to wherever it is that we are going to next. 

In his book, Time Wars, Jeremy Rifkin states, "We are a nation in love with speed. We drive fast, eat fast...we’re obsessed with breaking records. We digest our life, condense our experiences and compress our thoughts. While other cultures might believe haste makes waste, we are convinced that speed reflects alertness, power and success. Americans are always in a hurry."  

But, according to James Bryan Smith, the author of the book, The Good and Beautiful God, hurry is not a part of a well-lived life. He says that the #1 spiritual sickness in our day is hurry sickness. 

God spreads snow like wool...who can endure the freezing cold? Then God gives the command and it begins to melt. He breathes on winter - suddenly it is spring

Psalm 147:16, 18

Gray days. Subzero temperatures. Wind-chills. Snowstorms. And polar vortex’s. I think even the heartiest of winter enthusiasts are beginning to pine for brighter days when temperatures climb back up above zero for good.

January is the perfect month to take a pulse on your spiritual well-being. Here are a few things that I ask myself periodically. I pray that they will prove 

      What are you feeding your soul with these days? Are you subsisting on empty calories of excessive TV and movie watching, the Internet, Facebook, talk or sports radio, romance novels, etc.?

*Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:33-34 that if we fill our hearts with unhealthy things, it will inevitably be exposed by our attitudes and speech. What comes out of our mouths reflects what we’ve taken into our hearts.

You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun always knows when to set.

Psalm 104:19 

It's happening again. Just as it happens every autumn here in the Upper Midwest. We're losing daylight. Shadows are lengthening. The sun struggles to brighten the morning sky. And, before we've had much chance to relish it, it quickly slips away again into the evening.

Living in the Upper Midwest, we know that winters can be long and harsh, but as tough as winters are on our gardens, summers can be equally harsh, if not more so.Under a blazing sun day after day with limited rainfall, our plants can quickly shrivel and die. That is why it is important to take this wonderful opportunity spring time gives us to equip ourselves to be garden-ready.

In the dormancy of Lent

we can take our cue

from fallow fields,

Love: Live Jesus’ selfless heart out in your little sphere of influence

A letter to my precious friend Alyn... in heaven. 

Do the heavens open for you to see all that's happening here in Haiti at Grace Village, Alyn? Surely they must, for when I stand on that hill, I am certain it is the place that heaven touches the earth. 

Where heaven touches earth...

Thank you sweet Savior for allowing me to catch a glimpse of your face during this holy month of your Incarnation... as I looked into and smooched the faces of the precious children of Haiti!

¹⁵ This people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  ¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear... 

Matthew 13:15-16

When was the last time you noticed God's fingerprints in your life?  When was the last time you sensed the Savior's voice whispering to you on the wind?