“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reigns, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:9 and 10)

By Brenda Cannon Henley
The human heart is a huge subject and can never be fully explained. The Bible, the medical field, young and old lovers, and all the books and articles we can find to read will never be able to give us the full impact, the depth, the contortions, the feelings stored away in our hearts. This morning, before beginning this column, I read 68 Bible verses that refer to the heart, and I was reminded again of the importance of our knowing our own heart, keeping a clean and pure heart, cultivating a soft heart, developing a trusting heart, and reaching out to those with broken hearts. There are many more references and dozens of wonderful quotes about the heart, but space and time would not permit me mentioning more of them.

As we gain a little age, and hopefully, a little wisdom, we see things differently. That is not to say we don’t feel things as strongly or as richly as we once did in our younger life, but it does indicate that perhaps we have learned to think more about our hearts, what is in them, what can be shared with others, when and where it is appropriate, and how to help heal hurting hearts. And, we must, like King David, ask God to help us keep clean hearts. The Bible teaches out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34) In other words whatever we store in our hearts will eventually come tumbling out through our mouths, and can be hurtful to both others and us.

I have been traveling this month and am in the Atlanta, Georgia area for a week to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of dear friends and relatives of mine. I was reminded vividly of the importance of the matters of the heart as I greeted hundreds of guests on Saturday for the most fun party I have ever had the pleasure of helping with and attending. Many have said it was the best party ever as more than 300 folks came to give their love and blessing to one of my best friends, who is also my sister in law, and her husband. We have known each other for more than 55 years and shared many things. Her husband and I have never had a cross word in all this time and I admire the lives that they have lived and modeled for their family and great array of friends. It was refreshing to see genuine love and folks having a good time together enjoying food, music, photos, and talking about old times.

True friendship and love can remain in the closets of the heart even if circumstances do not allow close fellowship over the years because of professions, location, and life events. However, I have learned that the heart holds close all those wonderful memories and when true friends meet, there is no distance, separation, or catching up necessary unless the people so choose. I also learned another life lesson during this time. A few years ago, a woman did her best to exterminate me from the memory of family and friends of a lifetime. She took painstaking care to take a pair of scissors and remove my photos from life events such as weddings, picnics, family gatherings, and the like. Anyone that has any artistic talent could see the cut marks on the photos and the video that was made from those photos. It was crazy because every one that mattered knew I had been in those very photos and was a part of the family group. It was as though she wanted me to never have existed. I laughed about it, but it was disturbing that she was that determined to wipe me out of the picture, literally, and especially so when my husband and I had helped her when she needed help. Oh, how quickly her heart had forgotten.

I had not given any thought to this matter until the anniversary party when I happened to see her. She did not speak although we were in the very same room. I thought, “How sad to be that unhappy and really ignorant of the blessings of God. She misses out on so much.” I had a blast and enjoyed every minute of the preparation, the party, and the clean up of the event.

As the day went on I thanked God over and over that He has helped me to learn forgiveness, to stay out of other people’s business, and to try to love all I meet. I also learned that though people try to cut you out of lives or photographs, they couldn’t do a single thing about removing you and the wonderful memories from the hearts that truly love and care. Thank God for that blessing, one of God’s greatest, in my humble opinion. Let’s get out and make some more wonderful memories to store in our hearts.
[8-8-2016]

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788, or
[email protected].