Inside the Heart

Blood. Chambers. Valves. These are what one will see if he cuts open a heart. But one early morning a few years ago, i got a whole different view point of  what is inside the heart.

I was new then in the Philippine Heart Center. And as the most junior among the cardiovascular perfusionists, i am the one who gets in the earliest and gets out the latest. One Monday morning, I came in very early. As there was not much yet to do that morning, i watched patients get wheeled in to the operating room.

A patient scheduled for bypass surgery was brought  to the receiving area. The entourage included the nurse, orderly and the relatives. My attention was caught by a gentle looking woman with a very concerned countenance. Through the conversations, i was able to deduce that the woman was the patient’s wife. When the patient was about to cross the sterile area going inside the operating room, the wife  held the hand of her husband and spoke these words: “Nasa puso kita. At nasa puso mo ako. Lalaban ka ha.. babalik ka sa amin..”  (You are in my heart. And I am in your heart. Please put up a good fight.. And come back to us..) To which the husband replied “Nasa puso ko kayong lahat.. Babalik  ako sa inyo.. Lalaban ako”. (You are all in my heart. I will come back to you.. I will fight.)

The short exchange of words hit me. On a cold Monday morning, i felt the warm affection the couple shared. There were no tears, no wails or whatever intense emotional scene, just pure sincerity in the expression of their sentiments. 


As i joined the group bringing the patient into the operating suite, i pondered on the "heart" conversation i over heard. Then I realized one thing: our hearts are big. We all have cardiomegaly! :-)  For besides the blood, the chambers and the valves that it contain, our hearts also accommodate priceless treasures : Our family. Our hopes.  Our aspirations. Our faith. Our love.

My thought analysis sub branched to another thought: If our hearts are big vaults of treasures, then how about God's?  I could not fathom  how to find the answer to my query. I searched my lexicon and  i could not find any appropriate adjective to use. Then i came up with an answer. The word is immeasurable. God's heart is simply immeasurable. For inside His heart is the vast, colossal, immense love that God has for ALL of us. It is a love that transcends time and surpasses conditions.  The wife’s love may have boosted the morale of her husband, but it is God’s love that masterfuly guided every stroke of the surgeon’s hand, every decison made by the anesthesiologist, every move of the clinical perfusionist, every work done by the nurse.. God arranged everything to fall into its right places so that the heart surgery would go well. (and it did)

Such is the love of God. It knows no boundaries. It has no limits. It has no prejudice. No matter who we are, no matter what we have gone through, no matter what we have done or was not able to do, GOD LOVES US. And that is a truth that will always remain true. No stain, no shortcoming, no flaw can make us unworthy of the love that God has for us.

If for any reason or circumstance we may feel unloved, let us banish that thought. Because it is a lie. A subterfuge fabricated by the devil. In his greatest effort, the devil will always cloud our thoughts and inject the notion that we are unloved. Or that we are unworthy to be loved.  But by all means my friends, let us avoid subscribing to that idea. For the truth is, we are all loved. We are all products of love. And we are all born to love.

A popular Grammy award winning song by the Blackeyed Peas threw this question “Where is the love?” 
My  answer: Love is in the faithful heart. For where there is God, there is love.


Be blessed. And be a blessing :-)