Prayer of the HEART

by S. Carolyn Law


Ezekiel 11:19, 20b: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your bodies and replace it with a natural heart. Thus you shall be my people and I will be your God.

Last summer I picked up a book from our library entitled “The Heart’s Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy” by Paul Pearsall. The author writes about persons who have received a heart transplant. He found that 10% of heart transplant recipients experience a change in personality, vocabulary or tastes in food. He surmises that the heart has an intelligence and memory of its own.

Pearsall gives various examples. One is of a man who never liked spicy Mexican food, but now craves it. His donor was a young Mexican American. Another was a teenager who started to use the word copasetic, meaning all is well. His donor was a man who frequently used that word. Sometimes a recipient becomes more peaceful or more melancholy.

In the introduction to his book, Pearsall shares that he is from Hawaii and in his culture, at least in his home, his mother would invite the family to let their hearts pray. The prayer would be a simple sinking into silence, a silence of the heart to allow the heart to speak its prayer.

We have a lot to pray for. Our hearts long for greater peace in our strife torn world. Our hearts long for justice for those pushed to the edges of society. Our hearts long for healing for our brokenness. Our hearts long for equality in a racist, sexist, class-ist society. Our hearts long for reconciliation where there is estrangement. Our hearts long for understanding where there is rejection. Our heart long for….Please add your own longings.

Take a moment of silence and allow your heart to pray.