a clear heart

As in water face reflects face,

so the heart of man reflects the man.  

Prov 27:19

When I used to spend a lot of time asking, Who am I? this verse may or may not have been a comfort...but it would have been an answer. And now I wonder, too. What is my heart clearly reverberating about the person that I am becoming?

Look at your heart, Anna. Ask the Lord to examine your heart. What is there? What emotions, beliefs, orientations, paradigms, words, decisions, reactions spring forth? As I ponder this today, these pointed slivers of truth come to mind:

Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  

Mat 12:34

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.  

Prov 4:23

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. 

And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  

Ez 36:26

Daily choosing to turn myself in the direction of pure love for the Lord my God, vigilantly keeping this tender, newly given heart, diligently seeking his ways and overflowing with his creativity, grace and devotion--these are the patterns in which I want my heart to grow, this is who I want to be.

A steadfast, powerful, beautiful heart is the reflection that I want to shine clear. So, as the verse rings in my mind--the heart of man reflects the man--O Lord. Yikes. What a mess...

And then I'm caught by a phrase earlier in the Ezekiel passage.

It's not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord, 

but for the sake of my holy name.

And I re-read: 

I will give you... 

I will put within you... 

I will remove... 

I will give you.

O Lord, today may this heart shine beautiful, clear and open...
that I might not be seen.