Month: August 2022

We all know that our physical heart is a vital part of our being.  If our heart stops, we stop.  If our heart has problems, our health is greatly impacted.  Our physical heart resides in our chest and pumps lifegiving blood throughout our body. 

Did you also know that we have another heart?  It is the heart of our soul.  It is similar to our physical heart in that, if it stops, we stop – not physically necessarily, but emotionally.  And if it has problems, our souls are vexed.  The heart of our soul resides in our mind and pumps lifegiving convictions throughout our thoughts.  It is the innermost part of our being.  It is our deepest conscience.  It makes us, us. 

The world is full of advice to care for our physical heart – diet, exercise, vitamins, etc.  But what about our soul’s heart?  How do we care for it?  Well, surprisingly enough, the same way – diet, exercise, and vitamins, etc.  Figurative ones, of course.

Just as the food we eat goes through a digestive process in order to become the nutrition we need; our mental food also needs to be digested in order to give us nutritious thoughts.  We need to make healthy choices about the food we put in our bodies and in our minds.   And we need to pay attention to the digestive process for both.  

Think about it… most of us are particular about what we put in our mouths.  We manage the quality and the quantity of the food we eat.  We eat the foods that we like and the foods that we think are good for us.  We make choices based on priorities.  For instance, if our priority is to lose weight, we eat the foods that facilitate weight loss.  If we need to accommodate a health issue, we eat the foods that address that.  And if we experience adverse effects from some food, we choose to avoid it.

The same choices need to be made for the foods that we feed our minds.  Of course, we think the thoughts that we like, but we must still be selective.  We have to manage the quality and the quantity of the thoughts we entertain. We can’t allow our minds to be flooded with indiscriminate thoughts all the time as that can cause confusion.  We may need to prioritize our thoughts.  For example, perhaps you are going on vacation next week.  You really like thinking about that.  But you can’t think only those thoughts while you are at work.  You have to prioritize.  Also, we must choose the thoughts that are good for us.  Just like certain foods promote healthy bodies, certain thoughts promote healthy minds.  And if we experience adverse effects from certain thoughts, we must choose to avoid those.   

We must also consider the digestive process.  For our bodies, we’ve been taught since we were kids how that process works.  But what about our minds?  We may not know how to process information correctly in our minds. 

Both processes begin with chewing.  I grew up with a bad habit of not chewing my food well because as a kid, sitting down to a meal was usually an unwelcomed interruption of play time.  I can still hear my mom reminding me to slow down and chew!  We can be in a hurry in our minds as well and not think about what we are feeding them.  Ideas just pour in, and we don’t take the time to chew them for validity.  We must be careful about what we put into our minds, and we must digest it properly by weighing our thoughts against a standard.  Often that standard is one’s religious beliefs.  For Christians, it is the Bible. 

Like we exercise our bodies to stay physically fit, we must also exercise our minds to stay mentally fit.  Our minds’ exercise comes from learning new things and exploring new horizons.  Reading is to our minds what walking is to our bodies – a basic necessary exercise.  And just like we can intensify our physical exercise routine, we can expand our mind’s routine as well.  This involves not only reading, but also studying and thoughtful control.  We must actively guard our minds and protect them from the harmful thoughts that tear us down.  We must be strong in our minds and sharp in our perceptions.  If we are lazy physically, our bodies become weak.  If we are lazy mentally, our minds lose acuity.

Vitamins offer concentrated nutritional value to our diet.  I remember a Bible teaching that referred to Bible verses as being like good vitamins.  Taking nutritional vitamins helps make us strong physically.  Learning Bible verses helps make us strong mentally.   Physical vitamins give us nutrients that may be missing in our diets.  Bible vitamins give us everything we need that is missing in the world. 

Healthy diets, exercise and vitamins are good for our physical hearts.  And diets rich with the vitamins of God’s Word along with the exercise of renewing our minds give us strong steadfast hearts that are committed to God’s truth and light.   

Knowing the importance of caring for our physical heart motivates us to be wise regarding our diet and exercise routines.  And although caring for our soul’s heart may not seem as critical, it is very important that we maintain a good routine for it as well.  The best diet we can feed our soul’s heart is God’s Word.  A steady diet of truth profits us in many more ways than just our physical health.  When our hearts overflow with light, our lives are whole.  There is a verse that seems to sum this up perfectly.

Proverbs 4:23

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Take care of yourself – your whole self – body, soul, and spirit! 

Note to my readers:  I love you with all my heart.  Thanks for reading!

Please note that I will not be posting next Friday as I have grandchildren coming and you know what that means!  😊😊

The dictionary defines support as: “to bear all or part of the weight; to hold up; to give assistance to; to enable to act or function; to keep from fainting, yielding, or losing courage”.  Some other words used in conjunction are advocate, help, assist, maintain, and comfort.

Support is a familiar term in our vocabulary. For lots of us, technical support is a must.  Some of us may need emotional support or financial support from agencies that provide those things.  The world is full of charities that solicit our support.  And many of us are happy to support them.  But these kinds of support are not my focus for today.  I want to talk about supporting each other. 

People need support for myriads of reasons in order to make it through the complexity of their lives.  Yet, support sometimes carries a negative connotation.  People can think of support like a crutch, and that often corresponds to “dependency” in their minds.  I often wonder if these people had a broken leg, would they decline to use a crutch to walk until they’re healed?  Of course I understand that support can be exploited.  But most folks do not succumb to that.  They view support as a means to an end.  They can attest to the value of support as a factor in overcoming their adversity. 

Support is designed to help us get through difficult situations. It is goal oriented.  It is a tool to get us to recovery.   We all struggle at times.  Things go wrong or become difficult.  Circumstances may overwhelm us or catch us off-guard.  We may just grow weary of the fight.  There are many reasons that we might need some assistance or comfort to enable us to function.  Receiving support helps get us back to wellness.  It helps us cope.  So I think that we can safely say that it’s okay to get support.  Asking for support is not an admission of weakness, nor is it ‘too much to ask’.  It’s simply a step toward getting back on track.  Support helps keep us from ‘fainting, yielding, or losing courage’.

I think there are basically two attitudes that prevent people from asking for help.  One is pride.  (There is a difference between being prideful and being proud of ourselves.  It’s perfectly acceptable to be proud of our accomplishments and successes that we’ve worked hard to achieve.  We should take pride in our work and put forth our best efforts.)  Prideful people somehow think that they are better than others.  They boast of their own abilities and glory in themselves.  They are conceited, and disdainful.  This is the kind of pride that hurts people. 

In Proverbs 16, it says that pride goes before destruction, which can also be translated as ‘shattering’ or ‘crashing’.  Pride leads people down the path of ruin.  Pride puts people on a collision course with failure.  A prideful person usually never admits (even to himself) that he needs help.  His pride won’t allow it.  He alienates people because he thinks that he is better than they are.  He seldom has many friends because no one can measure up to his prideful standard.  Consequently when he falls, even if he admits that he might need help at that point, there may not be anyone around to pick him up.

The other attitude that keeps people from asking for help is feeling like they don’t want to bother or burden anyone.  I understand this.  I lean toward this feeling myself.  Most people do not want to be thought of as “needy” and in fact, find being needy distasteful.  But seeking support is not being needy.  What is more profitable – admitting that you need help, or failing miserably because you were afraid to seek support?  I think we all would agree that asking for help is a much better solution than failing. 

Support comes to us in many ways.  From professional counsellors to the friend who offers us a shoulder to cry on, people provide solace and advice.  A kind word or a gentle touch can be all the support we need sometimes.  Our families are often the first ones to offer us loving support.  Parents generally want to support their children more than their children want to be supported!  Another source of support can come from books.  According to one market analysis, about $549 million is spent on self-help books in our country annually.  Of course, the best self-help book is the Bible (which is not included in the above analysis), but I’ll talk more about that later.  There are times that we may need lots of help, maybe from multiple sources.  And no matter how serious or how menial our situation is, support can make the situation more manageable.   

People can’t always be there for us, even if they want to be.  But there is One who is always there, and that is God.  Our Father, God is all powerful and all knowing.  Therefore, He has all the ability necessary to help us in any and every situation.  And He knows exactly what we need no matter what we are facing.  God can answer everyone’s prayers even if we are all praying at the same time. Being omniscient and omnipotent means that He can give each and every one of us individual attention at any given moment and meet all of our needs personally no matter what or how many they are.  So, who better to support us?  God’s ear is always open to our prayers, and He is willing and able to provide whatever we need.  He’s never too busy or pre-occupied to support His children.  When we understand this, we can determine to make God as living and real in our lives as any person could be.  He can be our first line of defense because He is mightier than all of us put together.  He never lets us down.  He is completely trustworthy.  He keeps our confidences. 

In addition to prayer, reading the Bible offers us endless support.  Every book is somebody’s words, but the Bible is God’s words.  And God’s words are pure and perfect.  They have power.  There are no better words than they to give us any and all the support we need.    

For example, perhaps you are sad.  You read in your Bible:

Psalm 16:11

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Suddenly, you are no longer sad!  God’s words have rescued you from your sadness.  The scriptures are full of edification, exhortation, and comfort.  A single verse can change our lives.  God’s Word is that powerful and It supports us like no other words can!

There is no shame in asking for help when we need it.  There is nothing wrong with seeking or accepting support.  God placed us in a body as it states in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 27 – “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular”.  God used the example of our human bodies to illustrate the way we are supposed to work together as Christians.  Just as our human bodies rally when a part is injured, we should rally when a member of the body of Christ is hurt.  And the best thing is that it doesn’t matter whether we are the supporter or the support-ee, both get blessed when we work together. 

Support is not limited to only times of trouble.  We can support each other in the good times too.  For instance, your brother is performing in a play.  You attend the play to support him.  How about your friend’s daughter who is selling Girl Scout cookies?  How many boxes do you buy?  That is support. 

There are also times that we can support someone without even knowing it.  Have you ever had someone thank you for something you did for them that was actually unintentional on your part?  If we are in the habit of being generous, kind, and caring, chances are these situations will happen.  Also, we may be inspired to say or do something for someone but not know why.  Then we do it and find out that it was exactly what was needed.  These kinds of support are so rewarding because most of us derive much satisfaction from helping people.

So don’t be afraid to seek support when you need it.  And don’t hesitate to give support when you see a need.  Because either way, you will be blessed! 

Note to my readers:  I am ever thankful for your support of my blog.  Thanks for reading!!

Like anyone who loves to write, I often dream of writing a book.  But what would I write about?  My life?  Although, I think my life has been remarkable, I doubt that it would make for a fascinating read.  How about all my knowledge and wisdom?  Talk about a short story!  Maybe fiction?  I feel like it’s all been done before.  So I continue to dream, and maybe one day…  we’ll see.

In the meantime, perhaps I can tell you a story about a woman I know.  I’ve known this woman for a long time.  I actually was there when she was born.  When she was a baby, she cried a lot.  Not sure why, but I do know that her mom was really overwhelmed with her new responsibilities.  This was her first child, and she didn’t know anything about taking care of a baby.  But somehow the two of them managed, quite often to her mother’s surprise.  It’s a funny thing about raising a child when you’re clueless – everyone has advice and they are readily willing to share it, but none of it is the same.  So it seems that childrearing is pretty much trial and error.  And that is certainly how this woman was raised. 

What I remember about her early years is that she was cute, smart, and a little timid.  She liked puzzles and baby dolls.  She loved her grandmothers.  She liked to dance and dress up.  She would often wear colorful mismatched outfits that she picked out for herself.  Her mom would just smile.  I remember one time she got a new pair of boots, which I guess she must have liked because she wore them all the time, even to bed.  Her mom would have to sneak in after she was asleep and take them off.  Even as a small girl, this woman was tenderhearted.  She hated to see anyone be sad or get hurt.  (And that hasn’t changed!) 

Her school years were up and down.  She had a hard time starting first grade.  It was new school, and she was afraid.  Her mom, not knowing what else to do, followed the school’s instructions to leave her with the teacher and walk away even though she was crying.  But her mom basically had no choice because she would be crying too.  But eventually it all worked out and the little girl excelled in school.  She changed schools a couple more times, and I think each time had its trials, but overall she did well in her studies. 

As it is with many mothers and daughters, she and her mom were somewhat estranged during her teenage years.  They still talked and did things together, but there was a little distance between them.  It was a difficult time, but they got through it.  I remember her and her mom being out to lunch with a group of friends, including another mother and daughter.  The two girls were both stunning in their own unique way.  As I watched them talking together, I realized that neither knew how beautiful they were.  Of course that is not unusual, youth seldom sees with the heart – that generally comes with age.  What they also didn’t see was a young man walk into a wall because he was staring at them! 

I watched this girl grow into a woman and get even more beautiful through the years.  She is an amazing mother now with children of her own.  She is a good wife and a faithful Christian.  She is industrious, energetic, and generous to a fault.  She runs her own business and takes good care of her family.  And we are friends, which is the joy and rejoicing of my heart.

I suspect that you may have already guessed that I am talking about my daughter.  She has grown into a wonderful woman, and I am very proud of her.  I praise God for her life because I know it was His grace that covered for all my mistakes as a mom.  It was God’s strength that got us through the hard times, and it is His love that binds us together now and forever. 

I love the relationship that we share now.  And even though she lives in another state, and I don’t get to see her as much as I’d like, our hearts are knit together because she is not only my daughter, but also my sister in Christ. 

My prayer for all mothers and daughters (and sisters, aunts, grandmothers etc.) is that they can share the relationship of being sisters in Christ in addition to the family bond.  Standing together on God’s Word is an exceedingly joyful privilege that makes any relationship more beautiful.  And standing together with our children warms a mother’s heart like nothing else can. 

Note to my readers:  God bless you.  Thanks for reading!