Secrets of the Heart

Dear Friends,

Let’s talk about secrets of the heart. What do we carry within us that we hold closely and don’t reveal to anyone?

Our secrets are of all kinds.

We hold close the times when God has blessed us with a singular insight or vision that has made us grow more secure in God’s love, times people have said good things about us. We can close our eyes and see the beautiful places we’ve been to which no one has seen or treasured the way we do. We treasure the words of family members who have gone before us. We pray for some people in the secret of our hearts. We protect others in our heart of hearts. Our secrets make us blossom from the inside.

But not always, for we also remember times when we’ve been mean, when we have said spiteful things or wounded others in some way. We remember when others have said awful things to us about us. We replay the tapes endlessly. We keep reliving those moments, even if we shared with the injured either forgiveness or reconciliation or both.

In our heart are secret wishes for what we might want to be “when we grow up” – secret wishes for our future yet to be revealed. Secret prayers, secret beliefs about God, secret hopes for our own place in the world.

In this jubilee year, when we are called by our church to be pilgrims of hope together, we are encouraged to travel to holy sites and to the holy reorganization of our lives. (See Fresh Wind Blog for December 29, 2024.)

One of those holy sites is our own hearts. It’s time to rethink which of the secrets we harbor are worth keeping and which are not. Sweep out our memories. Which ones give us life and which ones suck the air from our lungs? Do we beat ourselves up by reliving the negative aspects of our lives or do we look at ourselves as the beloved of God? Hand everything over to God once and for all, in this jubilee year.

Let’s pray for ourselves and one another as we go through this sorting out process this year:

Tender God, we know no secret is hidden from you, (Ez.28.3)

Teach me wisdom in my secret heart (Ps. 51.6)

~ Sister Joan Sobala