Good morning…
“My custom has always been to ponder grief; that is, to follow it through ventricle and aorta to find out its lurking places,” writes Marilynne Robinson in the novel Gilead. “That old weight in the chest, telling me there is something I must dwell on, because I know more than I know and must learn it from myself. … I have never found another way to be as honest with myself as I can be by consulting with these miseries of mine, these accusers and rebukers, God bless them all.”
Pondering these words as treasures in the palm of my left hand, with my right hand I lay new wisdom gently on top.
******
Doing the Heart Work by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
The heart circulates blood through the body
a thousand times a day and not once
do I give it a thought. Not once do I think
of those four chambers, flooding and releasing,
the valves opening and closing to keep blood flowing.
It does this while I eat, while I crumple, while I teach.
It does this while I hold my daughter as she weeps,
while I stumble, while I fall apart, while I sleep.
Oh body, though I speak of being broken hearted
and the gifts that come in the breaking, meanwhile,
you go on with your ceaseless heart work, the work
of flow, the work of current, the work of push through,
of never saying no, the work of life, the necessary work
that allows all the beautiful breaking open to happen.
******
Pondering grief, my own pain and the pain of others, an old weight in my chest tells me there is something I must dwell on. There is something I must learn from being ceaselessly honest with myself. My beating heart does the work without me thinking about it, flooding and releasing, valves opening and closing. As I ponder the gifts of being broken hearted, I am grateful for the work of flow, the work of current, the work of eternal life pushing through. As I simply allow the beautiful breaking open to happen, God does the necessary work.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed (Psalm 34:18, NLT).
…Sue…
