Making Space in the HeartHouse

Spring seems to be the time to give the house a thorough cleaning. I am sure you have done it: "spring cleaning". But the truth is, our emotional house, the heart, could use a good cleaning out also. Nothing like a good trip to the garbage dump carrying away the junk that has been accumulated in our hearts. We could even have a "soulish garage sale". Actually, on second thought, we might want to ditch that idea because most of the hoarded things in the heart certainly should not be sold to anyone else, even for the cheapest of prices. No, we have to take a trip to the garbage dump.

We could go through the heart closets and rooms, and search for the rotten resentments, horrible hurts, grungy grudges, and crumpled up injustices. Hmmmm....the rooms to our hearts may be barricaded with all sorts of things for fear of feeling that hurt again. Work, work, work. Also need to check around for some loosened morals, twisted up values, and messed up priorities that sneaked in during the year and took up residence. We would do well to invite God on this search and find mission since the heart is deceitful. It takes a prayerful

attitude, one of humility, to embark on this kind of search.

The reason I thought a "fall cleaning" would be helpful is first of all to make room for the possibilities of bringing in newfound thanksgiving into our hearts. Not just the lip service kind but the heartfelt celebratory kind. So as Thanksgiving comes our way, we could have room in the heart closets for bringing in the many gifts that have come our way and truly truly be grateful.

Then just behind Thanksgiving, we have the whole season of Christmas absolutely running over with gifts for us to store somewhere in the hearthouse. All kinds of love, joy, peace, and good will toward men in beautiful packages, ours for the taking, if only we have room for it.

Also we have the possibilities of storing away some newfound hope as we sing the themes of new birth and anticipation. Anticipation of the new things that will fill our drawers and closets, accent our rooms, will make the work easy. So grab the brooms, the dustcloths, and maybe even the dreaded plastic gloves, and go after it!

Love As a Shock-Absorber

Here it is: confession time. I have found myself to be way too much a perfectionist to be a real blogger. I have to write, research, edit, etc which is quite time consuming so.....I am going to try something new....just the tidbits of my musings. So how about, I just try some ramblings. The idea I have been chewing on for 3 or 4 days is that love serves as a shock absorber in all relationships, but particularly I am thinking about marriage. When the fantasy wears off, there will absolutely be a period of disillusionment. I like to call this the "slippery slope" of disillusionment. Truth is, if you don't intercept it and begin to embrace reality, your relationship will end.

One day I was driving down the road recently, having a debate in my head about evolution. I had just had a session teaching a client about some of the intricacies of the brain. The brain always proves to me there was an intelligent designer. But on that day, I began thinking about man with emotions. A wide array of feelings I might add. I even saw a documentary on wolves where the alpha wolf came to a precipice every day for weeks howling after his "wife" had died.

Maybe a rock after millions of years could possibly turn into a toad (still impossible! how did the inanimate object start to breathe and have a beating heart? give me a break!). But if the rock that turned into the toad really happened, not only did it breathe and have a pulse, it also had feelings? It began to love and be disappointed, etc?

Okay, the emotion of love, which no scientists can seem to quantify in the lab, is an amazing phenomenon. The emotion of love is so strong that Jesus went to the cross because of it. For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son.

When love is present in a relationship, the basic irritations are just that: irritating, frustrating, but they are absorbed in the big picture of "BUT I love you/him/her." Love absorbs it. This is the 1st Corinthians passage. Love keeps no count of wrong.

There are some things that can stop love in it's tracks however. One is a critical judgmental

filter. That would be a negative filter to clarify. One that blames and finds fault. Another thing is an oversensitive spirit. This one is easily hurt, feels abandoned, rejected, overlooked, left out, etc. and I can guarantee this one is linked to the script of the past. Unforgiveness can be a block to love. It can harbor and harbor till the infection in the wound turns to gangrene. Nasty stuff.

If you need more love, go to the eternal well. God is love. A fruit of the spirit is love. Love is there for the asking if you need more. As long as you can pick fruit, it is on the tree. Why pick just a little? Get a whole basket full. If you are living with another human, you will need it. Love is a shock absorber! to be continued.....