The sound of a beating heart is one of the most precious sounds in this life. It’s beautiful. The rhythmic beat coming from the body of a little baby cradled close to you, the strong steady beats in the chest of the loved one lying beside you, the hard thumping sound reverberating from a kid who’s run into your arms for safety or comfort… Whenever I hear it, whenever I feel it, I am awed. It is a prized sound that signals life!
My favorite category in my Reflections… blog is “Matters Of The Heart”. It is what most drives me to write. And it’s also what is hardest for me to capture in words. I have one life to live (that’s all you get too!) and the things that matter most are the issues of the heart.
Today I’m reflecting back on some of my entries in this category over the past two years. If one of the blog fragments below strikes a chord in your heart, click on the colored words. It’ll take you right to that article. Hope you find one or two that’ll make your heat beat a little stronger this week!
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~ As night falls, I can choose to reflect with true thoughtful contemplation. I can move from the “You can’t be serious!” frustration to a purposeful look for something “good” in that tiring, seemingly unproductive day. I can reflect on what, indeed, was truly “accomplished” even though nothing – I repeat, nothing – was crossed off the ever growing to-do list.
~ Being the receptor of sacrificial love gives you a feeling of smallness that is both beautiful and healthy. In this self-focused world, when you either succumb to the path of the advertisers or battle the temptation to bend to your natural will, it is refreshing and humbling to see people step forward with straight back and joyful heart to spotlight others rather than themselves. To give generously and graciously, expecting nothing in return. To bless others because they recognize how they themselves have been blessed. To live openhanded. It is, indeed, stunning to see such abundant generosity. And it is overwhelming.
~ I’ve always enjoyed being a people-watcher. Now, as a mother, I have learned to become a child-watcher. It really does amaze me that so many people living together under the same roof can be so extremely different! But different doesn’t mean bad and shouldn’t mean annoying! It’s just different.
~ My Dear Children, This is a very important letter. The purpose of this letter is to try to explain to you one of life’s most important secrets – the secret of death. Very few people understand death. Most are afraid of it. Many try to ignore it. Hardly anyone wants to talk about it. But God wants you to understand it.
~ A tribute says ‘you are worthy. You have value. You may have failed me, hurt me, and disappointed me at times, but I am taking off my judicial robe and releasing you from the courtroom of my mind.’ A tribute allows you to take a hard, honest look at a person and your experiences together and to recognize the things they’ve done right, the sacrifices they’ve made.
~ Every single person you encounter…has so much more going on inside of them than you’ll ever know. But once you get to know a person, once you get to know their story, you’ll be amazed at how much you like them. Once the external layers are peeled away, you’ll begin to understand that we all struggle and wrestle with a lot of the same things, and once you realize that, it makes a huge difference in how you relate to people.
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Thanks for traveling through the past couple of years with me! I’m going to take a break from blogging for a while, but maybe our paths will cross again sometime in the future. If we’re headin’ in the same direction, I bet they will! May God bless you, friend.
Reflections of a Homemaker 