“The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.”

 (quote by Jen Wilkin)

This month I celebrate 15 years of being brain tumor free and my latest and final MRI says so.   Of course, my mind manages to be more forgetful and foggy than I like, and I have plenty of "I'm losing my mind!" moments, but I intend to keep my brain as healthy as possible.  (more exercise, more nuts, more books, more broccoli, more fresh air, more crosswords, more sunsets etc.)  And besides that, my brain is working hard to partner more with my heart!

Jesus has had my heart all my life. I attempted to snatch it back several years ago as life was not going the direction I thought life with Jesus would go.  During that time, It was as  if I had put all I felt about Jesus and taped it up in a box.  As a result, my heart became less joyful, hopeful and peaceful especially - so many Life moments are too hard, too heavy, too disappointing, too pressing, too unexpected (and not in a good way) ………. A friend unknowingly helped me to recognize I needed to open that box again. 

What I discovered is I had been neglecting my mind and it's relationship to my heart when it comes to Jesus.  For me, my heart alone can not be His without my mind in tow.     

 

The “mind” is referenced 126 times in the bible( NIV). I notice how it works in tandem with the heart—or how it SHOULD: the mind for knowing, understanding, and growing wisdom—the heart for feeling the weight of the knowing—with grief, joy, peace, (insert feeling words here) and love.  Heart and Mind -too much of either one can be precarious.   If "Follow your heart” shouts at you from the world, be sure to bring your mind along on the journey. 

 

I also heard something recently (this was soon after a very polarizing election)—a great divide in people today seems to be between those who are practical and those who are emotional.  Sounds like the mind and heart to me.  What if we had a perfect balance of both?

 

Of course, Jesus did - maybe I see this in the gospel of John's description of  Him as "... full of Grace and Truth" (John 1:17) 

May we all have a complimentary measure of both as we navigate this thing called LIFE.