Gratitude is the sign of noble souls ~ Aesop


Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving ~ Kahlil Gabran


Joy delights in joy ~ William Shakespeare


Monday, September 13, 2010

Take Heart!

I am thankful today for the powerful words I read this afternoon that Jesus spoke in John 16:33 -- "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
I like that it's sort of like a prescription -- take heart -- kind of like take 2 of these and call me in the morning. So how do we "take" heart? Take is a very action oriented word...it means to hold, grasp, to grip -- to get possession of. It is a word relating to tangible things -- and yet "heart" seems so ethereal. How do we grasp heart? Through love, I think. The tangible power of love. Love so strong, so true that it has actually taken on physical property and can be held onto, grasped, gripped -- taken. And so I take heart because I am loved, not only by those around me, but by the One who created them and me and all of us...the One who is LOVE. It isn't fluffy, sentimental, judgemental Sunday school stuff -- it is a gritty and glorious promise to us fragile human beings trying to make it through this gritty and glorious world, and I am grateful, in the words of the old song that "We shall overcome..."

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