The Heart
I just read John Mackey's (CEO of Whole Foods) commencement address to Bentley College. He speaks in one place about the heart. See if this doesn't sound strangely familiar to all that I have written about the heart quoting Eldredge, McManus and others....

We need to develop our self-awareness skills so that we can know when we are truly following our hearts and when we've lost our way. It is actually easier than it sounds because when we are truly following our hearts we are tapped into our deepest passions in life. We are doing what we most love and we find our lives full of increased energy, greater creativity, purpose, joy, and happiness. We simply feel more alive and we are moving within the flow of life. How do you know when you've stopped following your heart? When the opposite occurs—decreased energy, lack of creativity, no real sense of purpose and you aren't particularly happy. You have stepped out of the flow of life and are just drifting along. When this happens the solution is simple: Choose again. Reconnect again with your heart. As long as you are alive, it is never too late. You are free in each moment to choose the path of your heart and it never stops whispering to you, urging you to follow it.

He speaks of losing our heart - a life of drifting along, decreased energy, lack of creativity, no real sense of purpose and a lack of happiness. A person who has "stepped out of life and is just drifting along."

I have a friend that is right there. He is simply "taken out" by life. He is listless, passionless and plods along day to day. He has walled off his heart and silenced it. Getting him to even engage in a thoughtful and reflective talk is very hard. He won't go there. He feels safe in his walled-off world yet those around him are dying on the vine. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy - he won't open his heart out of fear of hurt. This walls himself off to those most capable of loving him and helping him along. Rejection tends to drive those people away only fulfilling the lie he has bought, "you see, people will hurt you."

I believe God speaks to us from the heart. Jesus came that our hearts of stone would become hearts of flesh. Dead, cold hearts would be awakened to the fullness of living in Christ. My friend is a believer but his heart is cold. He's not a mean person or a bad man...he just fears turning on his heart afraid of where that might take him. The lie from Satan is that relying on the heart of stone to keep us safe actually robs us of the life we were meant to live in worship of the Lord. "The glory of God is man fully alive".

Mackey profoundly describes (I don't think he is a Christian but he nails it) a heart fully alive..."We are doing what we most love and we find our lives full of increased energy, greater creativity, purpose, joy, and happiness. We simply feel more alive and we are moving within the flow of life."

Passion and creativity and purpose - a heart fully alive!

Soar!