What does it mean: "Home is where the heart is?" The heart is just a big muscle that contracts at will, and we are only aware of it when it loses rhythm …. We ignore the heart most of the time until it flops around, or slows, or quickens. The heart must be carefully and consistently worked in order to function efficiently for 90 or more years. If we work the heart, it remains supple, healthy, and rhythmic. If we let fat grow on an unworked heart, it becomes sluggish, inefficient, sick. Saint James wrote (in his letter chapter 5) to the rich and priveleged, "you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter." Yikes… Like pigs or bulls, fattened for the slaughter, hardly able to move. I don’t want that. So what does that have to do with "home?" When I visited many of you, I spoke of "home" and how I was ready to go home. I moved from the Keys which was not "home" and I wanted to return to Miami which is almost a foreign city! I went to the post office the other day and as I stood in line for about 15 minutes, I realized that for that 15 minutes, I did not understand a single word that was spoken by the 20 or so people in line. Same with the Winn Dixie and the Home Depot. I find myself saying, "Whaaaat?" when people speak to me? Even at my church, announcements after Mass are not all that legible. So why want to be in this place? I was brought up here, educated here, married here, my roots are here, the lake is so lovely, and I put my heart down on this lake. I want to serve here on a regular basis. I want to exercise my heart muscle here. When we stayed with Chuck’s cousins in Connecticut, they talked of their church and serving at the food kitchen, and other activities, and I thought, by committing to a place, and being available and able to attend meetings and events; to work in our "home" community, we exercise our serving heart. We exercise love which is refreshed and strengthened. Chuck hasn’t settled yet. He wants to travel, but I pray he will come around, to love this lake home, and to serve in some small way like he used to do with Florida Highway Patrol. I am still cleaning up "piles!" I balanced 2 out of 3 neglected check books, I organized all the credit card files (will be changing addresses and then filing them away), I have been organizing the art room, and today we are getting cable so we can watch the Miami Hurricanes play Thursday night. Chuck and I have been out working in the back yard. We put up a swing (with the help of our friend Dave), and I have been pulling weeds and making the garden borders pretty again. I will plant two new hibiscus bushes which I bought yesterday. Indeed one has bloomed in its pot this morning with a huge single dark orange/coral bloom. Perfect. I will keep that one close by the art room window. One pile at a time! All this place is of Chuck’s and my design. Home is indeed where the heart is. May you find the peace of a place where you can relax and enjoy the beauty of this world. May that place be where you find your happily beating heart. God bless you!
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