A Tree of Life

This morning while I was reading, this incredible verse stood out to me and I thought I would share it...

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life" Proverbs 13:12

It made me pause and think about the sickness that is in the world, and specifically the sickness of AIDS that exists in Africa. I have been reading much about AIDS and I understand some of the details of how the disease spreads and manifests itself in the bodies of those who are stricken. I know practically that the disease itself has real, physical causes and symptoms, and that it leaves millions of children without caretakers and that the "elders" of many African communities are only now in their 30s.

But this verse made me think more about the sickness of sorrow and the sickness of the soul that people suffer from when immersed in an environment where their longings and hopes are never once asked after, where their dreams may never see the light of day because they are overwhelmed by physical needs, and that physical realm is the only focus the world ever attempts to provide solutions for. Can you know hope when you haven't had a mothers love, a shirt, a bowl of rice? Can you still dream on an empty stomach?

What kind of emotional healing of the heart and the soul can we bring to people by bringing kindness, showing love, encouraging people to dream and helping them bring those longed for dreams to life? Is this ache deeper than hunger?

My friend Steve Sacher was so excited that the ministry Awaken was willing to donate the books "Wide Awake" and "Soul Cravings" to HEART so that Steve could bring them to Kenya to share with the staff and students because these two books foster dreaming, they encourage people to seek their purpose, to risk, to leap into the unknown and consider the health and fulfillment of their hearts.  They give solid examples and testimonials of other people who have taken that journey and the beauty they found in the process. They provide practical ideas on how people can find a way to feed the longings of the soul.

We here in the US, and many other countries of the world are fortunate enough to have our basic needs met, to have shelter, to have education, to have health. We have the opportunity to dream.

Are you wasting your opportunity to dream? How is the health of your heart?

How can we use this incredible opportunity and the gifts we have been given to provide a way of fulfilling longings of the heart to those who are in need of a healthy heart?