“All that is worth cherishing
begins in the heart, not the head.”
On September 25, I celebrated 42 years of marriage with my husband.
On October 25, one month later, I gathered with family to bury my father.
Both of the first most important men in my life served as reminders those 30 days that more of what matters begins in the heart.
what the heart believes
We were both 19 years old when we married: my father in 1948 and me in 1976.
Standing at the altar with my mother, he had no way of knowing that he would plant the seed of three daughters in whom the Lord would sow His Word, water it, tend the tender tendrils, and nurture it to life and growth.
By the time I turned 19 and stood at the altar, my head had convinced me that to believe this rather than that was the best remedy for my young heart. It felt safer, more controllable since cherishing hurt. A set mind and chosen attitude completed my soul ensemble.
Until one day many years later I came across the title quote. Profound in its simplicity, it pointed me back to my heart – with the presumed caveat that my head still needed to be engaged. With anything, there is a starting place. All the beginnings of what is worth cherishing…ah, the heart is the launching pad!
What the heart believes is key for it sets the trajectory of beginnings that only some time later will reveal where they have arrived.
To this day I thank God for new beginnings.
make choices like it matters
One of the initial beginnings I learned to cherish (the hard way) is to make choices like it matters. Why? Because it does. When all is said and done, at the altar of covenant or the cemetery of burying our departed, choices matter.
As I developed the capacity to look farther down the road in the midst of present circumstances, my head got whiplash. When at times it seemed I was standing in a swamp of alligators, fear-mongers that they are, I would hear, read, or sense ‘Look up, Nancy!’ At times I had to make the choice to lift my heart’s face to the light and get a beam on what was really worth cherishing. All over again. Still. Always. In spite of. Because of. For all time.
Eventually I discovered that choosing to look up to the light was not a one-time commitment, but a lifestyle choice.
mercies new. every morning.
It was eight and a half years ago that I began writing through the vehicle of this blog, Wellspring of Life. It began in my heart as a part of what is worth cherishing. I took the commitment seriously and still do. What I didn’t know then was that Vineyard Days would be another cherished beginning five and a half years ago, still being written…
…while wrapped up in the very words that flow from my fingers are the lessons of life and covenant learned from my father, with my husband, and in intimate communion with the most important Man in my life, Jesus my Beloved.
His love binds up the brokenhearted and heals our wounds. Life can be experienced in mercies new. Every morning.
the heart of the matter
More of what matters begins in the heart, because we decide what we will believe and make choices accordingly.
I am exceedingly grateful that God remains the workman of transformed hearts and lives through renewed minds.
The renewing of my mind has resulted in healing (from the whiplash, too, as my head got screwed back on straight), greater compassion and empathy, and hope that refuses to cave in and let go until the fat lady sings or Christ returns, whichever comes first.
Lest you get the impression I think I’ve arrived, allow me to laugh wryly, shush my spouse, and assure you. No.
If anything, the more I come to learn and understand, the more I circle back – more quickly now – to my heart. That’s where the worth cherishing checklist resides, along with the keeper of my heart whose Name is Peace.
Michael W. Smith sings in Move in Me, “until I stop thinking with my head and start listening to my heart, and there I find my assurance…” How true I have found that to be. A big reason why I have always written about the heart.
Some things never change ♥
Because more of what matters begins in the heart.
~ Gracefully Free
You can read more in the More of What Matters Series │Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash
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