Heart Hope by Olga

A cross-stitched poem adorns my wall this time of year. It’s a pretty common saying so you might have heard it before: What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring Him my lamb. If I were a wise man I would do my part. Yet what can I give Him? I’ll give Him my heart. The poem by Christina Rossetti is a beautiful statement of what God expects from us. It implies that no matter how much or how little we have isn’t really that important. After all, no matter how much money we have we are still poor in comparison to God riches and we really have little that is worth anything to Him.  A shepherd would only be able to bring a little lamb and the wise men couldn’t do much better, but there is one thing that we can all bring…our hearts. That’s really all that God wants anyway because if we give Him our hearts, He will also get our lives and our obedience to use for His good and His glory. Money and possessions don’t really ...

Did you know that Valentines Day did not originate to celebrate romantic love, but instead because of an early Christian? It has simply evolved into a day for giving cards, chocolates, jewelry etc probably due mostly to the retail industry.  If you research Saint Valentine, you will most likely find that according to history there were actually several people who were given that title. The one I found most inspiring was a kind hearted Roman priest who aided young Christians being persecuted by Claudius II and was imprisoned for his faith. While in custody, he converted 46 members of a guard’s family to Christianity. Upon discovering this, Claudius sentenced him to death. Today St Valentine is known as the patron of love, young people and happy marriage. So as you can see, Valentine’s Day was started to honor a man who loved people enough to sacrifice his life for them. This sounds like true love to me. It also sounds a lot like the love that God has for us. God the Father love...

Valentine"s Day is many things to different people. To those in love, it is a sweet day to be able to express the feeling to that special person in your life. To those who long to be married, but have no prospects, it is a day of loneliness. To young children it may be counting how many friends you have by the number of Valentines you received. To my family it has a special and unique meaning.  We like to express it as Happy Heart Day or Happy Life Day. Both are quite fitting because of what happened four short years ago on Valentine’s Day.  The day started out quite ordinary. I was at work and all was well. My 27 year old daughter, Lynn had just returned from her honeymoon and was planning a romantic dinner for her husband of 11 days.  While a lunch that day with a friend and co-worker my husband rushed into the restaurant where we were eating and told me that Lynn had suffered a seizure at her new job. We hurried to the Vail Medical Center where she had been taken; i...