HEART STRONG

How this squeezable heart ended up in our grandsons' toy stash, I'll never know. It's intended to help you squeeze away your anxieties, build up hand strength, or remind you how hard your real heart pumps to keep you alive! But I had additional thoughts--of the “heart” metaphor for the deep parts of our emotional and spiritual lives.

“The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart,” Jesus said about people whose “walk” didn't match their “talk.” Then He got very specific: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:18). Reading that list, I thought: Those are the plot lines for television shows and big-screen movies. But sadly, “art” imitates life. I can recall the physical sense of heaviness in my heart when I suffered from others' verbal sins.

Those Jesus entrusted with leading the early church saw the same problems. Paul bluntly warned the Ephesians to be truthful, keep short accounts, and watch their words: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths....Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Eph. 4:29, 31).

He similarly scolded the Colossians: “Rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (Col. 3:8). James shared the same advice after comparing the tongue to a fire capable of much damage (James 3:5-6). He was disturbed that people who called themselves Christ-followers could use their mouths to both curse and praise. “My brothers and sisters,” he said, “this should not be!” (3:10).

How much better when the name and character of Jesus are lifted up in our ordinary lives. I like how James characterized what that looks like: “peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17). Such are the character qualities that are squeezed out of a changed heart—one transformed by love for Jesus Christ.

Maybe that's the message needed for Valentine's Day--not sappy “luv,” but genuine, sacrificial love. The one made possible by the One who died on a cross. The One who showed us how to live with kindness and care—wholeheartedly.

P.S. In thinking about this topic, I looked up sayings about kindness. I'd heard this one before: “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.” I never knew it came from former President Ronald Reagan. For more encouraging quotes about exercising that “kindness” muscle in your heart, try this website:

https://www.pinterest.com/stevenspianostu/speak-kindly/

And some more encouraging words...

I have a story in the newest "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book to be released this week, about "Making 'Me' Time." It's my seventh time in a Chicken Soup title, and I was especially grateful to be able to tell my story about donating home-sewn baby blankets to area hospitals and a pro-life clinic. I never dreamed that a simple project of a dozen blankets for my church's "community outreach day" would become more than 1,300, and also serve as emotional healing for me over the past decade. The story's title is "Patched-together Positives."

STILL DIRTY

Ready or not....here's our dirty laundry. Well, it was washed, but because garage and chore rags tend to keep their stains, they still look dirty. To keep my fixer-husband happy, I do a “rag wash” every so often. As I was pinning them up to sun-dry (NO way will these greasy rags go in the dryer!) I thought of the phrase “hanging out your dirty laundry.” I've learned the idiom came into use about 75 years ago and referred to letting others know your family's dirty secrets when they really don't need to know.

Has that happened to you? It has to me, several times, in person or via letter. As I endured the negative communications, I asked myself why I was being told this. I also realized this person was wanting to vent and have somebody pity them than submit to a healing course of action. So...I did the best thing I can do when somebody throws dirty laundry at me: pray.

In situations like this, I'm encouraged by the counsel of the apostle Paul when he had to have some frank words with new Christians who had long lines of “dirty laundry” as they came out of pagan worldliness. From sexual impurity to anger problems, they had a lot of re-learning to do as believers. Listen in:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up...Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Ephesians 4:29-31)

There must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be any obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking which are out of place....(Ephesians 5:3-4)

Besides person-to-person contact, such “dirty laundry” comes into our homes through the media. Some of it is labeled as “entertainment,” “social media,” or “news.” But it's still like stained rags.

I've heard people complain that the restrictions of the pandemic have brought out the ugliness of human interaction. Dare I suggest that the problems of the First Century are still around in the 21^st? But Paul's advice is just as appropriate for us as for those early Christians:

Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them....Be very careful, then how you live—not as unwise but as wise...(Ephesians 5:8-10, 15)

Know the advice that immediately follows that counsel? To sing! Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (5:19). To be thankful to “God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 20). And especially be thankful that God can lovingly transform any spiritual “dirty laundry,” no matter how stained.