Lift Up Your Heart
“Mommy, what is lift up your heart?” Caleb asked me one evening while we were cuddling together in his bed. I was full of excitement over his question and was doing cartwheels inside. His question showed me that he was paying attention in church and was curious about the mysteries of our liturgy.
My response to him was to imagine that he can take his heart from his chest. Then, lift it to Jesus on the cross in the center of the altar at church. Put his arms around Jesus, kiss his cheeks, and tell him, “I LOVE YOU.” Then he can place his heart back into his chest. That’s what it means to lift up our hearts. I also told him that he could do this at any time in the day when he’s scared, lonesome, or bored.
This method of prayer started for me about six years ago when I was working as a data analyst at Open Doors. The files I worked on were so large that my computer took its sweet time to open Excel files. Excel would be very temperamental, and any sign of impatience from me, he would throw a temper tantrum and crash. Consequently, I would have to wait all over again for the file to reload or, even worse, lose a few hours of work and have to redo unsaved work.
Instead of sitting in my cubicle feeling frustrated, I would touch the cross I wore around my neck and say, “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silent before Him. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.”
One day something strange happened when I did this. I felt a new tingling sensation surge through my body. It lasted for only a few seconds. The feeling started from the center of my spine and moved outward to the tips of my fingers and toes. The sensation felt pleasant and awakening. As I continue to pray in this manner, the feeling kept coming. HERE is an old post on soul tuning that lead to this gift.
I continue to receive these sensations today. I do not need to say the prayer lines specifically. I would open my spirit and move into the space where I know God resides. It is a form of tuning my soul to open myself to the Holy Spirit and feel loved. My soul feels like the blossoming of a flower.
This blooming is my gift from God. It is like I found a spot in the clouds where gentle rain showers from the sky and God’s love sprinkles on my face washing me, loving me, and comforting me. These moments teach me what love of God feels like and that it can receive it should want it. The practice of lifting my heart to God aligned me to God’s frequency of LOVE, where my spirit can heal, rejuvenate and experience love eternal in these precious moments. It is the foretaste of what it will feel like to live life eternally. My body, soul, and mind awaken to a whole being feeling and comprehending the present moment that feels like bliss.
Image: Claude Monet, Poppy Field, 1890.