THE HEART GLOWS FROM...

The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but sometimes I think the face is the fount of the heart. I’m not speaking in terms of smiles and frowns. I’m speaking in terms of that sense of what is in the heart, which is visible by how one’s face radiates with either hate or love.

That is my impression at least. For I’ve sent the times when somebody smiled, but it truly seemed more a like a mask that genuinely from happiness. Oh they did their best to say all the right words, but those tense lines in the muscles of their face suggested joy wasn’t truly etched from what was in the heart.

Unlike God we can’t see everyone’s heart as in their true desires. But we can sense what is visible and if it is true compassion and care or just going through the motions. It is to be visible in so many ways we think we are clever enough to keep hidden.

True spirituality to me is not the absence of negative feelings. I wish that was the hope of this life. I think it is more reflections of the simple honesty to let what glows on our faces truly represent what is inside. False happiness and forced claims of joy will never gleam the continuity in one’s actions. Basically if we pretend, we will always pretend and never be genuine to our real heart.

It is sad when some people particularly in a church setting confuse a lack of ability to trust god with a need to avoid any degree of being negative. Being uplifting is a good thing, but if it isn’t the reality of what glows inside then it is nothing more than an act. And sooner or later the play will come to an end.

I celebrate the natural essence of being that the Holy Spirit is able to make glow on anyone’s face. To rejoice that in our weaknesses we can still trust the Lord can be such a natural reaction. To go through the motions of putting on the “victory” face while bleeding on the inside is hardly a good testimony.

Freedom in Christ includes the joy of truly being faithful in all our real nature. It isn’t forced or the result of spiritual blackmail or religious intimidation. Such is the game some prefer to play as if God is impressed with that kind of silliness.

However the game will always be played in some places. And there are those who will never be free to stop keeping score in a way that they end up with bragging rights.

To rejoice is to truly glow, but for the fire to truly keep burning requires more than doing what we need to do in some setting that we hope will earn us approval. Outside the boundaries of our prejudices God awaits for us to glow by his standards. It is a healing that only comes when we surrender to his version of truth and stop hiding behind false expressions.

May the Lord always grant those who embrace the truth by his means the peace to keep following it regardless of those who seek to take away one’s joy. It is a prayer hopefully each of us can utter from time to time.