Treasure of our heart.

Mary, a young teenage bride, pregnant and in a precarious situation had a treasure in her heart. Today, if people were asked about the treasures in their hearts, the answers would range from human relationships to material things. Maybe someone may mention a sports team or knowledge. But this wise girl kept the things of God, the supernatural occurrences surrounding her baby-boy, in her heart.

Few keep anything in their hearts anymore. Almost anything and everything is "shared" , plastered on social media for the world to see: From what you had for breakfast to the driver in front of you causing road rage. It's all hung out there like laundry over the narrow streets of old Europe's cities. Who keeps anything inside?

Therapists encourage people to let it out. They are focusing on negative emotions for the most part. Deep thinkers, meditaters, ponderers is an odd thing these days. It may be, because we are too buzzy and noisy. Mostly from our own choices and this culture.

"Come away" I hear the Lord calling "and rest. Find some place to think, to ponder, to treasure"

Forgive, forgive and forgive

I broke a bowl last night.
I opened the refrigerator and out came a bowl with some cranberry sauce in it. It fell on the floor and shattered.
This surprised me a bit since I've dropped this particular bowl many times in the past but this time it broke in a thousand pieces. I picked up the larger pieces and put it in a cardboard cereal box and in a paperbag. Then took great pains in sweeping all the little chips up, so that our dog would not walk in it or someone in bear feet wouldn't get cut.
Our youngest son, who was close by, handed me my flip-flops and went and got the broom from his room without being asked.
As I was sweeping I felt a burning on one of my feet and noticed a black spot. Thinking it was a mosquito, I swat at it. It was blood from a tiny cut. There were several tiny cuts on both lower legs.
This morning I opened the refrigerator and saw some large shards I missed and some tiny chips.
I am not sure that I got it all out.

As I was cleaning it this morning, a thought came: "This is like forgiveness"
When the initial event takes place, one tries to properly dispose of it: Forgive right away. Isn't that what the Bible say.
There may even be someone close by who love you enough to try to help you get over it.
You think you are okay and it's all taken care of, dealt with. But then you notice tiny wounds in your soul that needs some attention.
After taking care of these you think that it is done. Finish and "klaar".
Some time pass and one day you find, just in the course of your life, that the issue is not finished.
Now you realize that maybe there could be some lingering danger, some little residue, that may hurt you or someone near you in the future.

"Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times."