Monday, February 21, 2011

Happy Heart Day (a little late!)

As I am preparing to talk to some teenagers about "storytelling through art" (specifically photography), the Lord brought to mind how He is the ultimate artist and Creator. Everywhere we look around us we can see His storytelling. This is the story He told me this morning.

If you had to pick one body part that you thought was most important,what would it be? Corinthians tells us that no one part is more important than the other, but that we need them all to function as a body. But, just for my blog's sake, can you choose?
OK, so I thought about it and I want to be a blood vessel. There are two main types of blood vessels. Arteries and veins. Arteries carry blood away from the heart and veins carry blood back to the heart. So I pondered this morning, which one do I want to be? On the one hand arteries are super important. They take the blood that is fresh from the lungs and full of oxygen to the cells that are waiting and desperate for oxygen. But on the other hand, the vein carries the blood that is emptied of oxygen back to the heart for a refill! If the blood never came back to the heart, it couldn't be filled or used anymore. I decided I just want to be a blood vessel. I want to be a vein and an artery.
As an embryo develops, the heart is visible before anything else. Everything else begins to form around the heart and is fed and nurtured by the heart and the blood that it pumps. We are formed around God. In the image of Him. He is literally the heart of our being. He is the one who fills us with what we need and pumps us out into this world to feed it to those who need it. Oh Lord, let me be a vessel. A blood vessel. Let me carry your Son's blood to those waiting and empty. And Lord, please let me always remember to go back to you, the Heart, when I am needing to be refilled. Fill me again and again so that I can deliver the life giving, soul saving blood to those who need it. Thank you for demonstrating your love to us through the masterpiece of our earthly bodies.

God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

You are loved!

Natalie