The heart is the center of one’s being. Out of the heart we feel, need, desire, long, and hope. The heart is comprised of these core areas or roots. They allow us and push us to grow and connect, crave life and imagine, grieve and celebrate, attach and love. The heart is the origin of identification with each other, how alike we are. It is also the place from which we grow into our uniqueness, how specifically made we are. From the heart we care and make ourselves known.

Out of the heart we feel, need, desire, long, and hope.

The heart is the place from which we experience life. It is the seat of our emotional constitution and home of the universal language that all humans are created to speak. It is the birthplace and homestead of courage.

The heart is the birthplace and homestead of courage.

Even more, the place of God’s greatest concern for us is the roots of the heart. For if we do not live out of our hearts, and if God does not live in our hearts, we are not grounded. We live detached from how we are created, who we are created to become, whose we are created to be, and what we are created to do.

If we do not live out of our hearts, we are not grounded.

If the roots of feelings, needs, desire, longings and hope are emotionally and spiritually nourished in relationship, the heart is hydrated and oxygenated. The “foods” of relationship allow us to grow into who we were created to become. The roots that are nourished become the fruits of abundance. These fruits express in thought and action the generative, creative freedom of being fully alive. These fruits are not about production as much as expression of one’s identity, creativity, and love.