Written on the Heart

 

Jeremiah 31. 31-40

One line from this passage:

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.

Our heart. It has a depth that reaches to our true, fullest self. The deepest place of who we truly are and how God sees us in our fullness. We cover up our heart, though, with selfish, inward looking stances that spiral down to self pity, falling farther into ourselves (closing in on ourselves). We diminish ourselves, becoming less and less ourself. The true self, the heart, it is made to expand outward. In the best ways it should thus expand so that others see our true self, as a reflection of God within us. But that is so rare. We are too busy and too caught up from past hurts that stick with us in ways we don't notice. We cover up our heart with worldly things, desires and hidden vices, behaviors, and deeds. We don't get to experience our heart, the hungry heart continues to feel starved and empty. So we show the facade - the world tells us what we need to show. So that layers onto ourselves to make us "happy". And it's not true. But we believe it because we no longer have access to our deepest parts. Everything is shallow, fleeting, and full of selfishness.

I am inspired by Saint Augustine and his writing reflecting on the heart as being the true deep self we so often cover up with selfish desires that spiral inward, specifically as he wrote about his journey in his Confessions, which is his conversion story, so beautifully written. I am exploring this more and more, and it's deeply enriching. 

A few lines from Saint Augustine: 

And you pricked the rawness of its wound, so that abandoning all else it should be converted to you, who are above all, and without whom nothing else would be, yes, converted to you and so find healing.

....

Then, Lord, little by little, with most gentle and merciful hand, you touched and quieted my heart, as I thought of the countless beliefs I held about things I could not see, nor had seen when they occurred.

....

Instantly at the end of the sentence, as if a light of confidence had been poured into my heart, all the darkness of my doubt fled away.