Four Little Words Meme

I wish to thank my friend UkOk who has tagged me with this thought-provoking meme. Here are the four words she chose for me to write about, and what each of these mean to me: home, heart, healing, and happiness.

Home - Home is where the heart is. It is any place that you feel loved and welcome and where you can love and welcome others in return. Home is a place where we love others unconditionally. Heaven is our ultimate goal and our eternal Home.

Heart - The heart is that which enables us to love others -- to reach out to other human beings and bond with them. The Christian heart always seeks to imitate the heart of Christ by loving others with the same love He has for us; it is the heart that is always willing to sacrifice for others to the point of giving up one's life for another.

Healing is a very broad term. It encompasses the resolution of many different types of pain: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. We all seek healing from a variety of different things: addicitons to drugs and alcohol, sexual abuse, same sex attraction, abortion, recovery from surgery, a serious illness, resentment and bitterness. The most important type of healing is spiritual healing. Once spiritual healing occurs, all other types of healing will follow, God willing. Healing takes place through the sacraments - particularly thorugh the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Holy Eucharist, and the Annointing of the Sick. When we pray for God's healing, we may be surprised what His answer is, as He may heal us or others in unexpected ways. I am convinced that when we pray to God for healing that He always answers our prayers in ways that surpass and exceed our meager expectations. His love and kindness are beyond our understanding -- He is the God of love, the God of hope, the God of mercy, the One who loves us unconditionally and eternally and always chooses the best path for us -- the one that will draw us closest to His heart.

Happiness - It is a state of well-being which human beings are forever seeking. We look for it so many false and elusive ways: in food, sex, drugs, materialism. Advertisers and marketers via the media in our society are continually bombarding us with images of false happiness -- a man and his expensive new sports car, a woman with her sexy new body obtained through a "quick and easy" weight loss program, a child with his/ her new high tech toy. True happiness comes as a result of spending time alone with the Lord and developing an intimate relationship with the Creator. The joy. peace, and love that one derrives from that relationship needs to be shared with one's family and friends, and everyone we encounter. Sharing God's love is the only true happiness that we will encounter on earth. However, it is just a glimpse of what we shall see in eternity.

Four words for the following four friends to reflect upon:
Meekness, Modesty, Miracles, Mary.

Moneybags

Julie

Esther

T.O.

Enjoy! Feel free to play along even if you're not on the list!
-

Comments

  1. Julie D.10/15/06, 6:12 PM

    Oy veh ... wait, I mean "My, My" (keeping to that "M" theme you have going).

    :-D

    Let me reflect and I will get going on this. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ukok10/16/06, 2:00 AM

    'Imitate the heart of Christ by loving others'~ What a beautiful expression!

    "a woman with her sexy new body obtained through a "quick and easy" weight loss program" ~ oh how this made me smile...the weight issue is such a 'big' one with me...I don't want a 'sexy' body, I just want one I don't have to haul around with me and that doesn't disable me to such an extent as it does...but still, I do look for a certain happiness of self to come from not being quite 'me' anymore. Lots to think about here, my friend, and thanks for taking the time to do this :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. EC Gefroh10/16/06, 9:36 PM

    Mahalo Jean. This one is thought provoking so I will ponder it for a bit before posting my responses.
    God bless,

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jean Heimann10/17/06, 3:14 AM

    Ukok,

    I know what you mean -- I would like to shed a few pounds myself to be a little healthier, but we all know that many people are obsessed with their appearance and that takes precedence over everything else in their lives - particularly God and their families. Instead of focusing so much on their exterior appearance, they need to focus on their interior appearance. I think of all of us, myself included, are guilty of this to some extent.

    Thanks for your comment.

    God bless you,
    Jean

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jean Heimann10/17/06, 3:16 AM

    Thank you, Esther!

    God bless you,
    Jean

    ReplyDelete

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