Speaking from the Heart

The doctor said that I need to have a valve replaced in my heart. Those were the shocking words that I heard about a month ago.

As I write these thoughts I am one day away from open heart surgery. It has caused me to become a little more introspective and reflective.

This story from my childhood comes to mind... Growing up, my parent’s number one goal was to pass on a faith in God and a love for Jesus. Each evening after dinner we would get up from the dinner table and move to the living room for “family devotions.”

My parents had a 10 volume set of Bible Story books. We began with volume one and continued all the way through volume 10, and then we would start over again. I would guess that growing up I went through the entire set of Bible Stories four or five times.

I particularly remember when I was age four to six. There were three of us children. Each wanted to sit next to dad as he read. Since dad had only two sides there was often an argument about “whose turn it was.”

Dad thought that it was so that we could get a close up view and see the pictures in the story book. Actually it was much more than that. As young children we would lean up against my dad as he read. Our ears would be pressed against his chest and rib cage.

Have you ever placed your ear up to the chest of someone as he or she spoke? You don’t hear their voice coming from their throat. You hear it coming from their heart.

That’s where I learned my bible stories, leaning up against my dad. It wasn’t simply his voice that I heard. I heard God’s word coming from his heart and from the very depths within.

That describes well the faith of my parents. It came from deep within. That’s the faith that they passed on to us. It was more than words voiced and spoken. From their hearts they shared with us children the very heart of God.

May it always be said of Christians… parents, Sunday School teachers, each and every one of us… “They share from the heart.”

The next time I write… I will have an improved heart…
 

Pastor A. Mark Schudde

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