Mentors, teachers, and the Holy Spirit have all been reminding me lately of a single truth. It may seem farfetched, but the reality is that in the core, deep inside each one of us there is this thing. It’s crucial to our existence, to our survival. It is a small organ without which we cannot operate. We call this organ the heart.
It pumps blood laced with oxygen round and round the body constantly. At all times this organ, this muscle is circulating the life giving chemical to the deepest extremities of the body. And the second that heart stops so does life. 
Interestingly, as life and movement quicken so too does the pumping of the heart. Exercise and exertion prompt the organ to work harder while rest and sleep calm the heart and send it to a slower state. The heart then is the mirror of life’s pace.
Now, mentors, teachers, and the Holy Spirit have not been reminding me about the anatomy of the human body. Rather, I have continually been drawback to idea of the heart that is found in Matthew 5:8:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
It may seem farfetched, but the reality is that in the core, deep inside each one of us there is this thing. It’s crucial to our existence, to our survival. It too is called the heart. And although invisible, it too is the mirror of life’s pace.
It guides the life of the human soul by circulating our purpose to deepest extremities of the mind and body. It quickens and moves the mind and body to act when that purpose is awakened. And the second that heart loses its purpose or becomes too confused to execute its purpose then our spiritual life grinds to a halt.
For many of us, the material heart and the invisible heart are also linked. For example joy, and pride can literally be felt in our chest cavity when our hear’s purpose is wonderfully affirmed. Likewise, pain and loss can felt when our heart’s purpose is tragically denied.
Yet, the problem I have been facing is of the confused heart. In a fast passed, high demand society we have so many things pulling us in so many different ways. The temptation is to try to split our focus and lose sight of our calling in Christ in order to try to be all things to all people. The strength of our heart is scarified and our vision of God becomes cloudy.
One of my mentors encouraged me recently to cling to a purity of heart in my approach to God. He argued that those called to work for God’s Kingdom must be single-minded, focused, and purposeful in order to rise above the distractions which might drag one away from the task of one’s calling.
Another mentor put it this way, “If you know who you are, then you’ll know what to do.” When caught up in the confusion and demands of life, we must quite the world around us and lean into the core of who we are. We must peer into the mirror of our heart to see the vision God has for our life and purpose. We must move from the inside out in order to fulfill our vocation.
For God has stored up a purpose in our hearts just waiting to be pumped through our bodies in service to Christ’s Kingdom if only we would pay attention.
“Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”
― Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
Kena Hawkins Newkirk 