52 Blessings—The Heart

This morning I had Calvin, Ty and Ande open and close their fists again and again. After fifty or sixty pumps, Ande started to squeal, “I don’t know how long I can do this!” so I asked them how many minutes they thought they could do it.

Ty said he could probably go five to ten minutes (he regularly uses a little squeeze ball to build his grip for rock climbing).

Ande said, “Just a few minutes.”

Calvin didn’t answer but instead kept asking, “What are you doing this for?”

After asking them to pay attention a few times, I read them this quote:

“The heart is an incredible pump. It has four delicate valves that control the direction of blood flow. These valves open and close more than 100,000 times a day—36 million times a year. Yet, unless altered by disease, they are able to withstand this stress almost indefinitely. No man-made material developed to date can be flexed so frequently and so long without breaking . . . Each day an adult heart pumps enough fluid to fill a 2,000-gallon tank.” ~ Russell M. Nelson

Yes, the heart is simply amazing. Not just in the ability to keep blood flowing through my arteries and veins, but because of what it feels, records, and knows. Here are four sweet little experiences from this week that touched my heart:

• Last week I saw Brian walking across the church parking lot. It was teen temperatures and I asked him if I could give him a ride home. I knew he often walked, but until I drove him home I had no idea it was an hour and ten minute walk. Month after month, Brian has walked to church without anyone knowing of his effort.
  


• Our neighbor wears a fitted, green velvet dress with white fur trim to church the Sunday before every Christmas. The dress was her grandmother’s. It’s a simple little tradition she started for herself and her kids to keep her grandmother’s memory alive, but it has also become my tradition because I look for her in that velvet dress each year. She laughed today as she sucked her stomach in and whispered, “I almost didn’t get it zipped up this year, but at least I finally fill in the top.”



• I got a card in the mail from an anonymous friend. She said that her friend was celebrating her 70th birthday and that there was only one gift that her friend really wanted. That gift was for each invitee to write a note to someone in their life who would be happy to hear how much they cared about them. My friend then shared a sweet quote that reminded her of me along with a special thanks for being her friend. It was signed, “Love Always, Your Friend.”

• This post that Ande wrote.

The heart is an amazing blessing and I am grateful for it physically, emotionally, and spiritually. What simple little thing has touched your heart this week?