Wellsprings of Life

"Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts." The Message

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do." NLT

"With closest custody, guard your heart, for in it are the sources of life." NAB
Proverbs 4:23

One of my favorite pastimes is spent with a good book. I love a book that you start and can't put down...one that plops you down right in the middle of the story and you just have to know what happens next. Even when you're washing dishes or at work, you can't stop thinking about what's going on in Novelville. Those are the best ones!! Another thing that separates words on a page from a work of art is when I feel like I've met God between the lines. I recently read a book that delivered on all these points. It is When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin. I've read all 3 of Charles Martin's novels, and this newest is, in my opinion, his best work yet.

Beyond the great story that drew me in, the book inspired me to think about the human body and how we are "fearfully and wonderfully made".

This is just a small excerpt from the book that struck a chord in me of how awesome our Creator is:

"The human heart is remarkable in that it is designed to pump continuously for 120 years without ever needing to be reminded what it was meant to do. It just does it. In all my reading and study, I have come to know one thing without any shadow of doubt: If anything in this universe reflects the fingerprint of God, it is the human heart.

While it pumps more than a hundred thousand times a day without stopping, funneling hundreds of gallons of fluid around the body, it derives no benefit from the blood it pumps, making it the most unselfish of organs. In order to feed itself, it siphons from its own flow then reroutes it through three main arteries that loop back around the outside of the muscle to feed itself."

Thanks to Charles Martin for this wonderful depiction, and also thanks to God for giving us creative ways to marvel in His magnitude.