Heartbeat: Sensing sacred echoes in our days

By Joy Lenton —

A profound sense of the ineffable runs through our veins but we might mistake it for murmurs from another place. Perhaps we hear instead the pulse of impulse, the throb of desire, the heat of our own emotions racing fast. It could be coupled with a sudden, burning brevity of insight that dissipates like mist before returning again. 

Each small flare of recognition and recollection stirs our remembrance of sacred echoes even if they are barely discernible sometimes. Maybe we can learn to distinguish between these holy echoes and the clamour of our soul’s noise? 

A holy heartbeat

You are here, present within

but I fail to hear you sometimes,

so caught up am I 

in the daily grind.

And yet you remain, still

gently breathing out your love,

sighing out your grace,

whispering an invitation 

to every one of us.

Come, come, my child, you call,

come sit with me 

and rest awhile 

and practice listening 

for my gentle voice.

Come lean yourself, your cares,

your weary, troubled head

against my breast

and hear 

my holy heartbeat.

It pounds continually, 

steadily throughout 

the years,

throughout eternity itself,

it never disappears. 

As you abide close to me

you will receive 

heavenly joy and peace,

and be given space 

for your soul to breathe.

Perhaps, if we look closely enough, we might observe the essence of holy heartbeats in practice. It threads through our days in creation’s worshipful beauty, or in relationships, because that’s primarily how God manifests Himself to us. We hear the very heartbeat of God Himself within our souls as Holy Spirit influences and inspires how we live and love.

And as we get to grips with the messy and thorny issues of loving and living well, they present themselves to us as fresh opportunities for humility and hope, compassion, forgiveness, goodness and grace. But it all begins with seeking to develop a greater awareness of sacred echoes in our minds, hearts and lives, and being responsive to God’s voice.

“There is no part of our existence which [God] cannot touch. There is no place in our varied experience where He cannot meet us. His humanity is as broad as ours…. This is the secret of all-sufficiency —the friendship of Jesus, the indwelling life of Christ, our union heart to heart with One who, as no other friend could possibly do, lives out His very life in ours.” —  Tozer on the Holy Spirit: A 365-Day Devotional by A. W. Tozer