Inspiration: A New Heart

I went for a walk to pray - to sort out my thoughts, to sort out what my priorities are, to sort out "where am I going" ... 

I often find inspiration when I walk in nature - moments of beauty, moments of death, moments of rebirth, moments of new life rising up, moments of tenderness, moments of awe.

On this walk, I found a stone shaped like a heart...


It struck me, as I leaned down to snap the photo, that even when I am not thinking of Him...He is thinking of me. I thought of the verse from Ezekiel about God removing stony hearts from believers...

"...I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD." - Ezekiel 11:19-21 KJV

This piece of stone inspired me to STOP, to LOOK, to be AWARE of what is around me, to be INSPIRED by God's creation, and to feel LOVED. 



This piece of stone reminded me of a lesson I had recently learned about our hearts. When I was a child, my science teacher taught me that while many organs renew themselves continuously, producing new cells until changes related to old age set in, that we are born with one heart and that our heart never produces new muscle. In other words, if you damaged your heart, it could not renew itself. It might be repaired with surgery or replaced with a donor heart, but it would not be renewed.

Check out this article from the NY Times: "Heart muscle renewed over lifetime. "The finding upturns what has long been conventional wisdom: that the heart cannot produce new muscle cells and so people die with the same heart they were born with." In other words - God does renew our hearts.

This piece of stone inspired me to stop focusing on me and start focusing on Him.

This piece of stone inspired me to remember who hold my heart and my well-being in His hands...and that those hands are mighty and strong as mountains and tender and caring as a father to a newborn babe. 

Lord, thank you for looking over me today - and every day. Thank you for reminding me to stop and breathe and look where I am before I worry about where I am going. Thank you for the very many blessings I have received, and for please continue to plant patience and wisdom in the garden of my soul.