Good morning, Faith Pals,
Two weeks ago, in The Friendship Book, there was a story about a man who recommended that his friend get outside and get some dirt on his hands. He made the observation that ‘heart’ and ‘earth’ are formed from the same letters.
That got me thinking.
Many of you are keen gardeners, or have been. If you don’t like gardening, or are not good at it, then you probably enjoy looking at a beautiful garden, or walking through a park. I am not a good gardener, but I enjoy doing some pruning, and being outside, looking at God’s creation.
There is lots of research going on about the benefits of being surrounded by greenery. I don’t know why research was needed-I am sure most people could tell you being amongst trees or plants is good for our mental wellbeing, good for our soul-even if it is tending a couple of indoor plants.
I was reminded of this yesterday. Speaking to David, still in hospital, I was telling him about the heavy rain. He said he couldn’t see anything, because his view was of a wall. He said that greenery was necessary for our well being.
We moved house about 6 years ago, mainly for that reason. We were living in Brunswick, which was close to our work places at the time we moved there, but our work places had changed. I remember coming home one day and asking why we were still living in Brunswick: we are not hipsters, we don’t wear trendy black clothing, we don’t drink coffee, we crave greenery (we did have a small back garden with trees and plants, but were fed up with walking our dogs on concrete). It was time to move to greener pastures! Which we did-and have never regretted the move.
So… the heart…the earth.
Earth means more than our plot of dirt, it encompasses the planet, and all of creation. We are connected to the earth, God’s creation.
I had started reading a book about the heart. It had been in the book case for several years- lockdown gives us the opportunity to read what we haven’t, or re-read some favourites. This book examines the heart and its four chambers, through
1. its anatomy
2. through its religious significance
3. in art
4. in love
I thought we could look at the 4 chambers of the heart through the prism of our prayer life:
Chamber 1: praise and thanksgiving to God
Chamber 2: prayers of Confession
Chamber 3: prayers for others, including ourselves
Chamber 4: prayers for the earth.
‘I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.’-Psalm 9:1
‘Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.’-Proverbs 4:23
‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’-Philippians 4: 7
Prayers for the earth could include the whole world (its oceans, forests, skies), God’s creatures (maybe your own pets, or a favourite animal) including those who are endangered, or another part of God’s creation.
News: please remember Alan and Fredrica in your prayers; this is a big week for them. We pray for strength and peace for them, as this week will bring them the results of the body scan.
David is still in hospital, and he is still having bleeds. He had a colonoscopy on Saturday, and a bleeding artery was tied off, but there has been more bleeding. Now has a drip with a blood clotting agent in it, he has had several blood transfusions, and will probably have another colonoscopy either today after dialysis, or tomorrow. His haemoglobin is very low (53).
Blessings and love
Barbara
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