God’s open heart surgery

Lily Cathcart December 08, 2020 0 1

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Ezekiel 36: 26 (NRSVA)

26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

I have read and reread this short passage for today and I just can’t help it: I’m offended. Not by the idea of God performing open heart surgery on me. Those would be steady hands. I’m offended by the slight to my poor hardworking little heart. It may be quite stony in places but I grew those bits myself. Do you have any idea how long it takes to grow stone! Ask a stalagmite. Ask a fossil. It’s a long process.

I put those stony outcrops there and now God is going to whisk them away with a slice and give me a squishy damageable heart again.

It’s like God wants me to get hurt.

But the more I think about it perhaps that’s not too far from the truth. Not that God wants me to be hurt but rather to be vulnerable. To have a heart that can be accessed, can be open. When you leave your heart without stone walls it is more at risk of getting hurt but it’s also finally possible to feel, to wonder, to trust and to be known.

Maybe I’m not so offended. I think I get it now. I think it’s maybe, just maybe, time for a new squishy heart.

PRAYER:

God of openness 
You know the origin of each stony layer in my heart.
Help me to forget them one by one and accept the open heart that you offer.
Strengthen and renew my spirit to search for places where my open hearted self can be your heart too.
Amen.