Heart Healthy

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Pr 4:23 AV)

As is common in the book of proverbs, a spiritual truth is tied to a physical reality.  The heart is what keeps the body alive.  It pumps precious oxygen to all parts of the body that it might life.  It ‘issues’ forth the blood that is necessary to keep life in the body.  If the heart is not healthy, the body is not either.  In a spiritual sense, the same is true of our hearts.  As Easton’s Bible Dictionary puts it, “The heart is the ‘home of the personal life’,…The heart is also the seat of the conscience.” Another source, Hawker, states, “The heart in all languages is considered as the leading principle of action and of character.”  Webster’s 1828 Dictionary further adds, “The seat of the affections and passions, as of love, joy, grief, enmity, courage, pleasure &c.”  In essence, the heart is how we choose to experience and show forth life.  Therefore, the condition of our metaphysical heart plays a large part in how we also process life.

Back in the late winter, when the temperature was plummeting to minus twenty-six degrees, my lovely wife insisted I go to the hospital stat!  I had an attack of heart palpitations so severe, it lasted almost an hour-an-a-half resulting in a pale complexion and nausea.  She was concerned I was having a heart attack.  Heart disease does not run in my family, but to ease her concern, I went anyway.  Well, several months later and thousands of dollars spent, the doctors diagnosed heart palpitations of which I am extremely sensitive.  No more caffeine or chocolate for me.  Bummer.  But what I noticed during that episode, and all others I have had, is it affects my outlook on life and how I interact with my world.  There could be absolutely nothing to worry about or be down about.  But when an attack like that happens, all of a sudden one feels as though the sky is falling.

It is in our nature to desire a good life.  But a good life is a healthy life.  Physically, we will deteriorate as life advances.  We will pass away.  But spiritually, this does not have to be the case.  I have experienced people who are full of life.  They love the simple things.  Not the sinful things.  They are the life of the party and well as know how to live life, squeezing every ounce of pleasure from it.  They laugh.  They weep tears of joy.  They are a pleasure to be around and a blessing all those whom they meet.  They have kept their heart and therefore, they issue life to all who come in contact with them.  They discipline the lust and envy of the heart, refusing to be servant to negative influences.  Rather, they gush forth life to all who have the privilege to know them.