A friend of mine is struggling to feel like she is loved by God. This was part of an email I wrote her. This concept touches on many facets of our lives I think.
Sometimes in life our minds need to follow our hearts. And then other times our hearts need to follow our minds.
It's often that I find my heart racing ahead of a mind that's struggling for breath miles behind me. My mind the tortoise and my heart the hare. Sometimes my heart can be as misguided and unsure as a child. Following rabbit trails and gullies of all sorts. Not holding to the true paths. It would seem our minds are much more apt at following the straight and true trails in life. The one's that follow in the line of what's real. Telling us of this truth that's independent of what our hearts seem to say. It's just that if our minds lead us too often we fail to see the beauty around us in our journey. Perhaps causing us to miss it all together.
If our hearts lead us along we may see much beauty in this world but it'll be elusive and temporal without an anchor. I can't comprehend a more torturous prison. Sensing the beauty of something one minute only to have it robbed the next by a straying child.
For me the mind is often were the anchors in life are found. Keeping us anchored in to what we know to be true. Perhaps this should be the foundation of our existence. It's in our hearts where the beauty of our journey is witnessed however. It's where the passionate fire of our souls deepest longing is kept. We mustn't forget to involve our hearts in the journey. But it's a balance. It's a balance to the most intrinsic and monumental degree, holding the key to a complete life in it's grasp.
4 comments:
once again, it's the beauty of balance.
for some it may be opposite though, the heart acting as an achor, providing something that can't be exlpained or thought through or formulated in the mind. a deep sense of something so beyond, and bigger, and other.
either way, the heart and mind have to collaborate, not the mind having control here and the heart here. but in everything, both fully engaged. (seems like a tiring way of living sometimes...but full) the heart is pumping to the mind energy, beauty, feeling, the untangable, and the mind providing some sort of foundation and solidarity. in a way the heart acting as the sail while, as you said, the mind being the anchor.
i guess this all seems a little vague though to me. what are the practical implications, the stuff lived out, you know? how does that change when this balance is reached
Agreed. It is different for many. In this context of not feeling loved however it is an issue of being slave to an emotionally driven heart.
Ideally the two would work together picking up where one lacks and vice versa. Perhaps over time both being fed and nurtured they become more synchronous in their workings.
They both have to be fed however and I think this touches on the practicality you refered to. I think we can feed these sides of us and ignore the other until one day we've found that we've completely starved one side only to allow the other to take over.
Feeding each of these sides looks differently for each person. But it universally requires us to allow ourselves to experience God's goodness, kindness, mercy, love etc. with our whole being. Through truth, emotion and strength of our shear will and determination, as Ricardo would say disciplining our whole selves to experience God fully and holistically.
This is very difficult for me as I often find myself in an environment that demands we focus on the hard and fast mechanical workings of the black and white, the institution of the mind, to work out our salvation. Squeezing in the heart where it fits but leaving it behind completely if it doesn't.
All this sounds very philosophical but shouldn't the foundation of a Christian's existance be the Gospel and the Cross? There is a lot of guidance there.
I'd agree with that Hank. I'm not really talking about the foundation of our belief system though.
I'm talking more to how we allow what we've determined to be true to determine how we live.
In other words the problem isn't questioning the value or siginificance the Gospel of the Cross has on someone who has already claimed that over their life but what one does when their heart or even mind robs them of the joy that this gospel should bring to life. What happens when the value is stripped form this gospel all together?
This is a very real issue.
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