Great Heart

In C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy Pevensie called out for Aslan’s help when she and her shipmates were surrounded by thick, distressing darkness.  A beam of light appeared, and “Lucy looked along the beam and presently saw something in it.  At first it looked like a cross, then it looked like an aeroplane, then it looked like a kite, and at last with a whirring of wings it was right overhead and it was an albatross.  It circled three times round the mast and then perched for an instant on the crest of the gilded dragon at the prow.  It called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them.  After that it spread its wings, rose, and began to fly slowly ahead, bearing a little to the starboard.  Drinian steered after it not doubting that it offered good guidance.  But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, ‘Courage, dear heart,’ and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan’s, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face” (p. 159-160).

That image of whispered encouragement has always been precious to me. 

Aslan, as the Christ-figure in the Chronicles of Narnia books, whispered “Courage, dear heart” to his beloved daughter in darkness.  How often I need to be reminded of that very same thing – that no matter where I go and no matter what I do, I am dear to the heart of God.  Because of that, I can have courage.

The old hymn puts it well: 

So nigh, so very nigh to God,

I cannot nearer be;

For in the person of His son

I am as near as He.

So dear, so very dear to God,

More dear I cannot be

The love wherewith He loves the Son

Such is His love to me.

~ C. Paget (A Mind at Perfect Peace with God)

This past September, God saw fit to give me another heart reference as my theme for the new school year.  But it wasn’t an albatross whispering.  This time, it was a wizard speaking to a horse.  :)

I admit:  until this past September, I had put off reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  But I fell in love with them!  J.R.R. Tolkien has written so many quotable lines and come up with many analogies that help me to go deeper into my own life.  But, laughably, the most impactful quote for me was on page 262 of the Two Towers, where Gandalf says:

“Away now, Shadowfax!  Run, greatheart, run as you have never run before!  Now we are come to the land where you were foaled, and every stone you know.  Run now!  Hope is in speed!”

Thank you, Pinterest.  Definitely not my picture.

Great heart.

Horses have really big hearts.  No, really.  At 1% of their body mass, we’re talking about 9-12 pounds of pure muscle, pumping the needed oxygenated blood to the rest of the body for peak performance.  Partly from genetics and partly from training, the thoroughbred racehorses are known to have the largest hearts of all horses.  Phar Lap (from New Zealand) had a 14-pound heart, and it is believed that Secretariat’s might have been even bigger.  (Comparatively, human hearts are 0.5-0.8 pounds.)

Although Shadowfax was a horse, the encouragement from Gandalf to run and the name he was given spoke of more than the physical size of his heart.  “Greatheart” also spoke of Shadowfax’s noble character.  (You can’t read the books and not be impressed by Shadowfax, let alone not wish that he was your horse.)

Now, run with me on this… (see what I did there? :))

I can always imagine God whispering to me, “Courage, dear heart.”  I know that I will always be dear to the heart of God. 

But being called “Great heart”?  That’s a very different thing.  Being a “great heart” is not a guarantee.  It is the result of my choices.

My title of Dear Heart is dependent on God.  The title of Great Heart is dependent on me.

What would it look like this year to have a Great Heart? 

Could it be helped by:

·       A good cleaning?

o   emptying me of myself so that God has more room to work in my life?

o   clearing out the junk (or even good things that aren’t best) that so often fills my heart?

·       A bigger perspective?

o   caring about God’s plans more than my own?

o   considering others better than myself and serving in humility?  (Philippians 2:3ff, Mark 10:43)

·       More exercise?

o   the more I practice living for God and not for me, the more my heart might expand. (I mean, really – Dr. Seuss said the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes when he stopped being selfish. :))

Why is having a Great Heart so important? 

“For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3:14-19

Christ dwells in my heart. 

Does He feel at home there?  As Jonathan Brower asked a few weeks ago at my church, “In my life, is God’s presence dwelling where He wants to dwell?”

It sure seems like pursuing a great heart is a worthy goal this year.  I know that at times I will fail in my pursuit, but thankfully God is greater than my heart (I John 3:18-20). 

However, feel free to join me this year in praying that God would increase our hearts. 

That way, we can listen for the whisper of “Courage, Dear Heart,” knowing that He is speaking to us…

As well as…“Continue, Great Heart,” as we run in the paths and places in which He has presently called us to be.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.” 

Ephesians 3:20-21