Spiritual Homeostasis

Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here.  It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet.  Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate.

H = Homeostasis

I am a nurse. 

I love the inner workings of the human body. I reflect on the pumping of the heart, the synapses between brain cells, and that we make 300 billion new cells every day and I am amazed at this miracle. Thank You Creator God!

This week’s letter is H. Lately I have been praying and pondering balance and a great H word – homeostasis.

Homeostasis comes from the Greek word, meaning same or stable.  The human body is constantly managing complex interactions to keep our body on an even keel.  It has to or we would die.

Homeostasis works to control our blood sugar and the amount of oxygen in our lungs and in each cells. We are 70 percent water – and the body needs to keep that balance under control. Not just water, but all the electrolytes within water. Is the temperature of our body ok? Our blood pressure? Are we getting enough sleep or to eat? We sweat to cool off or shiver to get warm.

Our bodies constantly strive to balance and regulate its environment in order to stay alive.

But our bodies are never at perfect balance all the time, but always moving a little one direction, then the other. Homeostasis dances with flow and movement responding to whatever happens inside or outside the body.

So is spiritual homeostasis the same? Can we view our spiritual life like a scale? Tipping one way for a while, then with God’s help and others’ guidance, trying to tilt back the other way. Always striving for that perfect balance.

Reflecting on homeostasis helps me be gentler with myself when I forget to pray or run off without doing my morning devotions.  I don’t mean just allowing excuses all the time, but not dwelling on my errors. I turn and reach out once again for God, knowing He will bring His steadiness to my vacillation.

Thinking of my spiritual life in the terms of homeostasis helps me realize the movement of balance. The constant dance of coming and going.  The flow of life. A spiritual homeostasis.

We don’t ever find that perfect balance, at least not while on earth. But our lives flow in the ebb and tide of the rhythm of each day, each moment. We live in healthy tension.

Life buffets us around in chaotic storms. Our own self-doubts and mistakes toss us about. I used to think something was wrong with me since I never got rid of that tension. Now I just hold life’s highs and lows lightly and keep my eyes on God for direction.

God is the central pillar of our scales. He is the sacred Steady to our weary wobbling. He balances us in his hands so we don’t completely tip over. He keeps us even-keeled.

Even-keel is a nautical term meaning the ship is floating upright without listing to one side or the other. A keel is the center structural line running before and throughout the vessel, stabilizing its journey. A keel gives the ship its strength and function.

I kneel before the Keel.

I am grateful that  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8


What does spiritual homeostasis mean to you?

God’s Promises – Lectio Divina

Words of Christ - 6/52 (Photo credit: Roger's Wife)

“When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you’re not disappointed” 

(Jeremiah 29:12-14 MSG).

I’ll listen.

You’ll find me.

I’ll make sure you’re not disappointed

Thank You Lord for listening.

When I call on You, You hear me.

To know You hang onto my every word – the whining, the tearful moans, the times I can’t find how to express myself – You know and You listen.

Thank You Lord for letting me find You.

When I come looking for You – You are there.

When I can’t find You and wonder if You left – You stay with me.

When I turn my back on You and drift into ego driven pleasures – You watch over me.

Thank You Lord for forgiving me and patiently waiting for my heart to turn back to You.

When I once again intentionally seek You and realize You are the true desire of my heart, I find you waiting, smiling for me.

When I return like the prodigal child, You run to greet me with open arms.

Your promises strengthen, comfort, and refresh me.

Your promises fill me with hope.

A God who keeps His word – God of the Word

You are a God who keeps Your promises and I am so grateful for Your unceasing commitment to our souls.

The Important Time of Day – Quote of the Week

prayer.. (Photo credit: aronki)

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.

Etty Hillesum

Spiritual Direction = Spiritual Listening

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Lent is a time for listening. I am listening in prayer. Listening to the Word of God. Listening in the writings of others on a spiritual journey. Listening to my heart.

All forms of spiritual listening – hopefully I will hear God’s lessons during this Lenten season.

My blogging friend Nancy Franson invited me write a guest post for her wonderful blog, Out of My Alleged Mind and she specifically asked me about my call to become a spiritual director – another form of spiritual listening. 

My post is over on her blog today and I invite you to hop over there to read it and while you are there explore her other features. Here is a teaser:

Ten years ago, transition and turmoil filled my life. In 2002, two of my three children were graduating and moving out of state, close friends died and others experienced serious illnesses, friends at work betrayed my trust, and my husband’s workload became heavier. I felt restless, lost and tossed in never ending storms.

And this was the time God called me to try something new?

To continue reading, please come on over to Nancy’s site, Out of my Alleged Mind…

God Always Tips the Scale to Love – Guest Post by Jen Ferguson

Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here.  It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet.  Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate.

This week’s letter is G and there is no better word than I can imagine starting with G than:

G = God

I am so excited to welcome Jen Ferguson here today with a guest (another good G word) post about her faith and God. This lady loves the Lord! Jen writes a wonderful blog, Finding Heaven, and makes all who visit there welcomed. What a loved community she has created and gathered.

Please visit her blog. You may also be interested in also checking out her Soli Deo Gloria Retreat she is planning for next October.  Thank you Jen for posting here today.

http://pinterest.com/pin/199565827207343224/

God Always Tips the Scale to Love

Drawing a line in the sand wasn’t working.

And when she expected more harsh words or another “pat” on the rear, I instead scooped her up and held her, this six-year old body, in the same way you might cradle a newborn. And I started to sing her favorite song while I carried her into my bedroom to sit in the rocking chair that was once my grandmother and my great-grandmother’s before that.

We rocked back and forth, her huddled against my chest, wrapped tight in a hand-made blanket that had come from my grandmother’s house. We listened to the low creaking and we inhaled the scent of the loved ones since passed on, wrapped up tight in the love that has covered us many time over.

As I ran my hands, pressing flesh into the oak grains, as I curled my fingers around the chair’s arm, I imagined my grandmother’s hand upon mine. A simple reminder those times I had drawn the line and my grandmother chose love instead of exerting power. My grandmother, the one with the direct line to my heart, taught me the pull of unconditional love. She taught me to see to the heart and not worry so much about demanding those things that just need time to grow.

Rocking my daughters, scooping them up and covering them with a blanket, responding to them with unexpected tenderness – this is what God does with me most of the time. The thing is because I am always braced for the heavy hand, the punishment, the look of disappointment on His face, I don’t allow myself to see, much less receive, the gentleness that He extends to me.

Recently, I’ve set out on a journey to rid my life of scales, the tit-for-tat way that I have lived my life thus far (you can read more about that here). As such, I am hypersensitive to my thought processes these days and I realize how hard I must fight to live a life free of the continual weighing that goes on in my mind. I realized last night as I closed my eyes to pray that these thoughts were rolling through my mind:

Well, you didn’t read your bible today. How can you expect Him to welcome you?

Gosh, all those prayer requests from the Soli Deo Gloria girls last week, and you want to ask Him for help on your marathon?

Clearly, you have not held up your end of the deal. You need to get with it or your going to lose the relationship you’ve enjoyed with Him.

All of these sentences boil down to one thing – Since I have not…He will not.

And yet, He does. But, I have to choose to believe that He understands my shortcomings and still loves me anyway.

I have to choose to believe that when I am screaming (on the inside) at the top of my lungs, He doesn’t long to match my voice in all its rage or sadness.

I have to choose to believe that He instead wants to cover me in a blanket and rock me, until my heart can be calm again.

But there is a choice here:  I can continually weigh myself until I feel some semblance of “just” or “righteous enough” and then approach the throne.

Or, I can choose to accept that a contrite heart, He has yet to deny. I can choose to see the gentleness and turn from the wrath of my own self-inflicted hand. I can choose to see that His grace, His sacrifice will always tip the scales to love, acceptance, and freedom.

How about you? Do you allow yourself to see the mercy and grace He offers you or do you judge yourself by your own standards?

God Summons – Lectio Divina

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The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. 


Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages. He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:

“Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” 


And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice.

Psalm 50: 1-6

God summons.

Lord, at times You appear to me as a judge -

The Mighty One, sitting on Your throne, high above all of us.  All of me.

With hardly a twitch, You speak and call forth the earth from her nightly rest.

You preside over our very existence from sun up to sun set.

You are a consuming fire and invincible power.

You summon forth all life.

You beckon both light and dark.

You call and we come.

But You, O God, don’t coldly subpoena us into a doomed courtroom.

You are just, a fair judge.

But so much more.

You don’t sit upon the judgment seat, condemning us.

No, You chose to come along side of us.

You left heaven to prosecute sin.

You become one of us to defeat death.

You came and took the punishment for us.

Your mercy and love saved us.

Praise You for Your faithfulness.

Praise You for your forgiveness

Praise You for Your grace and love.

Prayer – God Never Fails to Understand – St. Therese of Lisieux

I have not the courage to search through books for beautiful prayers ... 
Unable either to say them all or choose between them, I do as a child would do who cannot read -- 
I say just what I want to say to God, quite simply, and [God] never fails to understand.

- Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

15 Lenten Practices

Lent (Photo credit: Fr. Stephen, MSC)

Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here.   It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet.  Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate.

F = Fifteen

15 Lenten Practices

The season of Lent will soon be here. Ash Wednesday is February 22. As few weeks ago I began exploring how to have a healthy spiritual heart in preparation for Lent. I asked myself, “how best can I prepared my heart of my Lenten journey? How will my heart be healthier by Easter?”

Seeking answers for these questions, I have found some great resources to deepen our journey through the 40 days of Lent to the cross and resurrection on Easter morning. I am not going to attempt all of these, but thought I would share what I discovered with you today. Perhaps one or more of the following will light your way to Easter:

1.     Write 40 notes of encouragement to 40 friends. I think I will do this one and hopefully most of them will be handwritten. There are several people though I only have their email address so will make some exceptions. As I write each one, I will also lift them up in prayer.

2.     Take 40 verses from the Bible that mention heart and talk with God about them in my journal and on this blog – 40 written prayers. You won’t see most of them, but I will use a few on my Sunday post.

3.     Don’t just read the Bible, “chew” on these Bible verses.  The Better Part: A Christ Centered Resource for Personal Prayer by John Bartunek is a great resource to deepening your meditation of the Gospels.  I will be using some of his ideas when I read those 40 verses. 

4.     Study a book during Lent. I have ordered Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri Nouwen. He is one of my favorite writers so will walk with him this season.  

5.     Attend Ash Wednesday services in your church or visit a church that practices this tradition.

6.     Choose someone from our Christian heritage to walk with during Lent. Read about their life. How did they grow closer to God? What, if anything, did they write? How did they pray?

7.     Many people give up something or fast for a period of time during Lent. Sometimes they also donate the money they save from giving up a treat. Don’t just fast because you “should,” read about the true meaning of fasting. Pray first, then try this practice if you feel called to it.

8.     The Common English Bible has a beautiful set of Bible verses for Ash Wednesday and every Sunday in Lent on PowerPoint slides. These wonderful photographs are available free on their site: Free Lenten Resources. 

9.     How about an online prayer adventure? Join the Jesuits with these daily prayers and reflections. The website: Ignatius Spirituality has numerous other resources to enrich your faith, no matter your faith tradition.  

10.  Mustard Seed Associates has a great Lenten Study Guide available free. 

11.  Have you discovered the wonderful resources available from Spirituality and Practice? They are offering two Lenten retreats this year: Exploring the Psalms and Living the Hours . There is a cost, but well worth it. Check them out.

12.  You have heard of March Madness but do you know about Lent Madness? Honest. Read more about this idea and learn about specific people in our Christian history on the website Lent Madness.   And yes there are brackets!

13.  You can learn more about Ash Wednesday in two minutes by watching this video by Busted Halo. 

14.  The Practical Disciple last year listed wonderful resources for Lent. 

15.  Creighton University – another wonderful website has an entire page of resources for your Lenten journey, including daily prayers. 

The letter F this week stands for fifteen resources to deepen your journey through Lent. I know there are many more. We don’t have to be perfect, but these 40 days are a wonderful opportunity to spend time with God. 

What helps you prepared your heart for Lent?

Learning by Heart – Guest Post by Nancy Franson

An unexpected benefit of writing this blog is how connecting with others has enriched my life. One of my favorite fellow bloggers is Nancy Franson who writes a wonderful blog called, Out of My Alleged Mind.  Please check out her blog.

As I ponder heart healthy spirituality this month, I asked Nancy to guest post for me today. Thank you Nancy for being here and sharing your story.

Desperate and Deceitful

Most people who commit to memorizing Scripture begin, I imagine, with passages, which are familiar to many both inside and out of the church.

John 3:16 is a likely starting point. The reference shows up on signs in the end zones of professional football games and on the eye black of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. For God so loved the world, John 3:16 reads, He gave His only begotten son . . . The verse is a succinct explanation of the gospel message, one well worth committing to memory.

John 11:35 is another easy entry point into the discipline of Scripture memorization. Two simple words: Jesus wept. Hiding a verse in one’s heart doesn’t get much easier than that.

Those two verses were probably among the first I memorized as a child. Another I remember vividly, and in the King James, was this:

The heart is deceitful of above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

I don’t remember who assigned me the task of memorizing that verse from Jeremiah. It may have been the elderly neighbor who hosted an after school Bible club, or it may have been assigned as part of an AWANA club program. I do remember, as a young child, thinking it was a strange verse. I was young enough that I wasn’t sure what the words deceitful and desperately meant. I kept confusing the order of the two words, both of which began with the letter d.

As I grew older and began to understand what the words meant, I continued to think this was a strange verse to assign to a young child. Its message didn’t seem an important for me to know. I was willing to acknowledge that bad people had deceitful hearts that were desperately wicked, but I didn’t really think mine was.

Even though, by faith I know Christ has given me a new heart, one that desires relationship with him, I’ve come to know just how deceitful mine can be. It often gives voice to my deepest doubts and fears:

•  Forgiven? Really? You believe that, knowing what you’ve done and all you are capable of?
• You call yourself a follower of Christ and that’s how you behave? You think God is going to keep putting up with you?
• What makes you think you’ve got anything to offer to God? To your family? To the world?
•  You realize, of course, that you’ve probably messed up your kids? They’ll probably never have a relationship with Christ because they’ve witnessed your failings.
• How can you even be certain God is there? Or that he’s trustworthy? Or that he is good?

My heart, the heart of a good little girl who grew up going to Bible club and AWANA, who memorized Bible verses and learned Scripture, is deceitful of above all things and desperately wicked. I know what Scripture says about who God is and what he has done on my behalf. Yet my feelings often lead me to believe otherwise. The wellspring of my emotions and will often tempts me to believe desperately wicked lies.

In his book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson cautions the believer against paying too much heed to what the heart says. He wrote: 

My feelings are important for many things. They are essential and valuable. They keep me aware of much that is true and real. But they tell me next to nothing about God or my relation to God. My security comes from who God is, not from how I feel. Discipleship is a decision to live by what I know about God, not by what I feel about him or myself or my neighbors.

The only antidote I know for my sin-sick deceitful heart is God’s own heart. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul told the believers he prayed for them in this way:

May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

 2 Thessalonians 3:5 ESV

Scripture teaches me about God’s heart for me, His delight in me, and His determination to woo my deceitful heart to His. I meditate on the steadfastness of Christ, His determination to reach Jerusalem and spill, on my behalf, the life-giving blood that pumped through His heart. I think of Him persevering in prayer for me, doing battle against the lies, which condemn me. As I allow these truths to course through my veins, God continues His work of healing my heart from the remnants of desperation and deceit, which linger there.

As I cling to truth about God’s heart for me, He creates in me a clean one and restores a right spirit within me.

What Bible verse mentioning the heart do you remember?

Flood my Heart with Light – Lectio Divina

Let There Be... (Photo credit: drp)

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Ephesians 1:18

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light

I turn towards You, Lord.

I open up my heart and ask for Your light to warm my cold soul.

I know I can’t see the cobwebs clinging to the corners or the dirt in the crevices of my heart without Your glow.

I know I am empty, void of love for others…and for You.

Only when Your light beams inside me, purifying my soul, will I be able to reflect Your love to others.

Your light illuminates where I need to go.

Your radiance invites me to rest in Your arms and snuggle close to You.

What a powerful image this is:

not to be lost in darkness,

not just to have a glimpse of You

but to be flooded in Your light.

To be so saturated in Your brightness that all shadows disappear and I know Your way is the only way.

To stand with arms outstretched in the deluge of divine fire.

To know You.

You are God.

The only true light.

Flood me with Your light, Lord.

Prayer – Quote of the Week by Theophan the Recluse

“To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all-seeing, within you.”  

Theophan the Recluse, a 19^th century Russian mystic.

Cultivating a Spiritually Healthy Heart

February is heart month in the United States and a month I am considering how to nourish a spiritual healthy heart.

How can I cultivate my heart this season? How can I go deeper?

February 22 is also Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten season. How best can I prepare my heart of my Lenten journey? How will my heart be healthier by Easter?

A great fellow blogger, Jen Ferguson, is exploring the word Cultivate on Thursdays on her blog, Finding Heaven. 

She invited me to guest post there today. I am excited to have Jen as a guest blogger here to add to this discussion in a few weeks.

Please join me over at Jen’s blog and read more about cultivating your heart. Click here

Here is a teaser:

“Cultivate my heart, Lord. Break up its hardness and plant your harvest of love within me.

The word cultivate scares me too. It tells me I can't just cultivate the surface to be transformed - I have got to go deep and that may hurt a little. I am not sure what will happen if God enters my heart’s darkest places.”  

 Come on over…you will enjoy exploring her blog.

E stands for Exam – Acing the Final Exam

FSA (Photo credit: gibsonsgolfer)

Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here.  It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet.  Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate.

E = Examine

I hate tests. 

I was a good student in school and love learning, so that may surprise you about my revulsion on test taking. But that sitting down and squeezing my brain matter all over a paper to answer unanticipated questions that will determine my future….YIKES – makes me shiver again remembering them.

My most dramatic test experience was the Nursing exam. In 1972, the national test we needed to pass to become RNs was still given on paper. In fact we took six tests over two very long days. 

I sat in a large metal windowless building on The Ohio State Fairgrounds. (Yes weird as we are in Ohio we emphasis THE before anything concerning Ohio State – Go Bucks…but I digress…sorry…back to my story)

Just imagine row after row of long tables filled mostly with women at that time, with our sharpened number two pencils gripped in our sweaty hands. We had to pass every one of those tests in order to get our license. Once finished we waited six agonizing weeks for the results. Multiple-choice questions determined our future.

For someone who does not possess a good memory for details, I remember everything about those two grueling days. I could tell you the colors on the outfits of the person in front of me and the sounds of doors opening and the footsteps of proctors walking around like Nazi prison guards. One girl a couple table away kept cracking her gum. I hate that as much as test taking. 

Perhaps the funniest memory is on the first day when a thunderstorm passed over Columbus. You could hear the pounding rain start at one end of the building and literally dance across the roof to the other side.

Yep, I will never forget those two days.

Just as a note, students now take the test online at multiple locations and at their own pace. They have to either pass a certain amount or fail a particular number of questions to complete the test. The computer shuts down automatically when they reach that level. I hear some complete the testing process in one hour and get the results the next day.

So when I read, “let each one examine his own work” you understand why I cringe with this verse.

Yet God’s exam is different. He examines our hearts using His terms.

His standard of measure is love.

There is only one answer and it is not a multiple choice.

When faced with a decision on what action to take, you choose love.

Love is the answer to every question.

We may sin. We may make mistakes. But God will always love us. Pass or fail.

And that is all we too are required to do. Love.

Christ, Make a Home in my Heart – Lectio Divina

Heart-shaped cloud (Photo credit: aivas14)

“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.” Ephesians 3:17 (NLT)

Christ will make his home in your hearts

Lord Jesus, come live with me.

I want You to feel welcomed in my heart.

To find a warm inviting place to dwell.

To be so close to the center of my being.

To make a home in my heart.

Lord Jesus, I put out the welcome mat of trust and watch for Your arrival.

I am in awe and humbled that You actually want to reside within me.

I anticipate light, laughter, and lots of love to fill every chamber of my heart. I don’t want to hide anything from You.

Come and stay awhile. No, what I mean to say is: come and stay with me eternally.

Not as a guest, but reside here forever.

My home. Your home. One.

My heart. Your heart. One.

May our hearts beat as one.

Weather and Attitude – Quote of the Week

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“You bring your own weather to the picnic.”

Harlan Coben, writer

Healthy Heart Spirituality

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I listened to his heart. The beats were fast. His pulse was irregular. His skin was flushed and sticky with perspiration.

Fifty years old and recently released from prison, the man came into the free medical clinic where I volunteer as a nurse.  He patiently waited through all the paperwork and for his given appointment time.

But he was very sick.

Too sick for our little clinic.  We quickly sent him over to the hospital for care. 

His heart sent us messages that something was terribly wrong. 

Hearts fascinate me.

Did you know:

·      The average adult heart beats 72 times a minute; 100,000 times a day; 3,600,000 times a year; and 2.5 billion times during a lifetime.

·      Though weighing only 11 ounces on average, a healthy heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day.

·      A kitchen faucet would need to be turned on all the way for at least 45 years to equal the amount of blood pumped by the heart in an average lifetime.

·      Every day, the heart creates enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles. In a lifetime, that is equivalent to driving to the moon and back.

·      The heart pumps to almost all of the body’s 75 trillion cells. Only the corneas receive no blood supply.

·      During an average lifetime, the heart will pump nearly 1.5 million gallons of blood—enough to fill 200 train tank cars.

The heart is vital to us both physically and spiritually.

Guess how times “heart” is mentioned in the Bible? The Biblegateway web site lists 722 verses in the NIV version.  Wow!  Guess God has something to say about our hearts too.

February is heart month in the United States and a great opportunity to think about our spiritually heart health.

February 22 is also Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten season. How can I best prepared my heart for my Lenten journey?  How will my heart be healthier by Easter?

During this month many of the posts on this blog will focus on healthy heart spirituality.

Just like our physical hearts, for healthy heart spirituality we need proper nourishment and exercise. How can we best improve our hearts this month?

First I am going to start by having conversations – focusing more on listening than talking with God through prayer and journaling. I want to spend more time with God and get to know His heart in new ways.

Next I want to study some of those 700 plus Bible verses in His word to gather wisdom there.

Finally I have asked a couple of fellow bloggers to be guests this month here and share their insights to having healthy heart spirituality. One component of discernment is learning from others in our Christian community.

I hope you also participate in this venture by commenting and adding to the conversation. What helps you prepared your heart for Lent?  How do you nourish and improved your spiritual health?

The heart of the matter is that the heart matters.