Where is your heart?

oxford american dictionary:

a hollow muscular organ that pumps the blood through the circulatory system by rythmic contraction and dilation.

since when, since when did we begin to refer to this hollow muscular organ, as being the center of our emotions, moral, and "love".

and who took the image from:

to:

further more, i want to believe the best in people. however no matter how "pretty" we try to make our heart appear to be "...out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." (matthew 15:19)

of course "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (luke 6:45)"

however, this heart game, it truly comes across as a sketchy see-saw that you attempt to seek balance on but so easily, often get DROPPED (you know exactly the feeling of getting dropped when you used to play on the see-saw...)

Regardless of how often or easily it can happen...it's always a surprise. Hello? Quite possibly the reason behind that sudden DROP, is because we are not putting our FULL heart in God as we've been told and instead choose to play some weird balance games.

We are told to put our full heart in God, but we choose to put it in stuff, situations, people (friends, family, and lovers), places, homes, etc. and we get dropped in many different forms. It only hurts our own self.

I guess...i just wish we could all get it together, get over ourselves (me included), and all place our hearts - the core of everything we are - fully in Him. Our hopes, dreams, ideas, creativity, talents, minds, thinking patterns, our whole selves in Him. That way we don't have to deal with fear of man. Then, we could all get on with it and live our lives to the fullest.

I'm nothing spectacular, but much of my life I have felt I've struggled against other's comparing themselves to me, and when that happens I cease functioning correctly. I shut down. Healthy, fun competition, bring it on. Full out comparison...no no no. I have over and over again: run away. Has it ever made me feel better about myself...I don't think so...in fact I usually come out asking the question "Why me??" more and more. I want to live my life to the fullest and not think about offending any one else, because they are trying to play a balance game with me. Don't you? Just live, you and God. That's romance. :) I think we can all do it.

That's why I am trying to start a new initiative within myself, that when I feel people around me are trying to play a balancing/comparison game with me, I won't any longer run. No more retreating, but confrontation: healthy, God-fearing, not man-fearing, battle. Because my battle is "not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, I may be able to stand my ground, and after I have done everything, I will stand."

I think it's a battle we all need to engage in, for ourselves and for others. We need to fight for our own hearts, and for the hearts of others. To all place them in the right hands, and not the hands of each other.

Where is your heart?

A wise proverb

¹⁸ The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.

I was reading through Proverbs the other day on my commute into the city. This passage leaped out at me.
"This sounds pretty cliche. ...but the same time it's rich in meaning and substance."

Oh you book of Wisdom, Proverbs, you make me question. Do I feel like my daily decisions are leading to a brighter day?
If not...why not? Where am I not seeking God?

His wisdom and understanding is infinite.

Within the book of Proverbs you often hear mention of "laziness"...maybe not for you...but for me I think it's laziness that is atleast part of the gateway to lack of pursuit to Godly wisdom in all matters. Not to "over spiritualize" (at the same not being fearful of overspirtualizing), we must fight ourselves and maybe some fear of others and pursue Godliness with "all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength"!

If you have ever or even now believe there is no rhyme, reason, wisdom to the Kingdom of Heaven for the followers of Christ then you've been duped into deep darkness that will only cause great and regretful stumbling in your life and thereafter. In our heart of hearts, we know what we need to do. We know that we need to and we know how to pursue God with all of our heart, mind, soul. So let's just do it.

Sadie Hawkins Miette McFly

Sadie (meaning): Princess

Hawkins: In honor of Relient K's "Sadie Hawkins" song.

Miette (meaning): Little one/pearl

McFly: In honor of the movie "Back To The Future"

Since she was the runt of her litter, originally I was going to name her simply Sadie Miette ("Little Princess"), but pop culture was so influential, I had to throw in the "Hawkins" and the "McFly". That's the story behind the choosing of the name. (Who knew that??)

Sadie was puppy to Amber, the Golden Retriever my family got my mom one Mother's Day. When Amber had to be put down just over a year or two ago (because of a tumor), it kind of felt like Amber's legacy lived on through Sadie.

Sounds a bit silly talking about "legacy", when referring to a dog, I know. It is. But on the same note if you've never owned a good dog than I don't expect you to relate to the experience. And that's Ok. :)

Sadie was put down over this past weekend, due to multiple health reasons. However no matter how many "health reasons" she was suffering through at the end, multiply that by about a billion and that's how good of a dog she was.

She was EXTREMELY goofy, scared of things like laundry hampers, trash cans, and so much more (regardless of her acting "tough"). I sometimes called her "Sweet Sadie", because that was pretty much her personality.

She was "legally" my dog, but when I moved out in 2005, one of my mom's first statements to me - in love of course - was "You can't take Sadie..." From then on she was my mom's/my dad's dog. :) (my dad will say more the latter than anything else).

This is not meant to be sad or "serious". Simply since I have a blog, I have the time, and we had a good dog, I thought I'd just make a little eulogy. If you have your own family dog or family pet, take some time after reading this to give it a treat, a tap on the head, or some sort of pet-owner-love. :)

Pet dogs are such a unique creation by God. "Man's best friend" :)

Proverbs 12:10

"The righteous care for the needs of their animals..."

Your Primary Search Engine

The other day in the subway an advertisement plastered across the top of the train caught my eye:

Automatically, of course, this image flashes to my mind:

(disclaimer: not my pictures, not trying to steal them,

wouldn't want to claim them as my own anyway just using them as an example.)

Ok, so first of all, no I don't think they are "blasphemers" or should be "persecuted" for stealing an idea that was used as such a trendy late 90's statement piece. The bracelet and acronym were trendy, the statement/question made: ETERNALLY RELEVANT.

What strikes me as interesting is the relevance and truth of the replacement of the "J" to "Google" in view of these recent years. I think their sales/marketing and PR agents got it right... Fads come and go, unfortunately the bracelet and acronym was quite a fad to be had in the late 90's, but now in the late 00's it's not Christ who people are turning to for answers (if they ever were), it's now GOOGLE that people are turning to for answers.

Let that sink in:

It's now GOOGLE people are turning to for answers.

Is that completely evil? No. Of course not. I'm still gonna use google's search engine. "What is the definition of...", "Directions to...", "How many tablespoons are in a cup?"

Of COURSE God gives us tangible means to receive answers, I believe He can even speak to us through Google searches if He wants :) "SO what's the big deal Tammy??" Well I'm thinking...the big deal is who are we turning to FIRST? and then who are we trusting in FULLY? We should always SEEK first the Kingdom of God, we should always TRUST the Lord God with all our hearts and lean not on our own world's understanding. "How to talk to my kids about...", "What to do in the midst of recession?", "What to think about war in the middle east?", "What are the pro's and con's of..."....

Sure you can take those questions to Google, but I would challenge all of us to first take those questions - big or small - to Christ. If He then leads you to look through scripture you might want to consider that! :) Or if He leads you to a book...a friend...your mom...you might want to consider that. If He leads you to a massive search engine with answers from all kinds of cultures, world views, ideologies...OK then with all of the above go WITH God through the whole process in seeking the answer.

You get my flow?

WHO IS YOUR PRIMARY SEARCH ENGINE?