The neighborhood church yard sign declared, "Your set-back might be a set-up for a come-back." That suggests that the things that disappoint or injure or side-track a person may frustrate original dreams and intentions, but that a bigger purpose could be the point: a change of one's heart, or sometimes breaking of one's heart. By focusing on the heart condition of Christians, the shape of one's congregational worship, the personal study and meditation, as well as the love for and service to one's neighbor all can be gauged in a new way that helps one to navigate daily and life-sized choices and aims.
The other day a radio report from Ethiopia included a sound snapshot from Christians lining up to face a holy relic from long ago. At first this seemed like a head-fake, an object of love and intention that memorializes a saint or sinner, rather than striving to know God and God's will. But on second thought (the literal meaning of respect is re+spectare, to Again See) and judged from this "heart-ology" perspective, perhaps the act of seeking to get near the relic and then to pour one's hopes and fears into that encounter may in fact function to soften or even break some hearts, thus making them subsequently open to those relationships one is part of. In other words, what may first seem a wrong path, in the end may lead to the same destination; in this case, a softened heart that is capable of touching both the harsh and gentle parts of a life well lived.
