Mention February 14 and instantly think of “heart.”  The saint’s day points to the organ that propels all of our blood back and forth.  Interesting.  Why is not our feet honored this loving day because it was the feet that swallowed our anxieties to approach our spouse of fifty-sum years?  I think our arms would look good on a Hallmark card; arms that held an infant and then listened to the now-adult tell you that his four-year marriage is over.  I think the eyes have it for it is the eyes that first attracts us to that person across the room – that friend of a friend, that neighbor two houses down, that bosses’ son.  Yes, the eyes catch.  If I had my say I’d hold out for the eyes as the bodily emblem for this yearly day.  The rest of the body may play a part but, well, the eyes have it.

All these years later, I’ve been proven wrong.  The heart wins, always.  A broken heart, a heart of dreams, heart of gold or a lasting heart is what 2/14 is all about.  Each day we take this wonderful organ for granted until the beating either increases or its opposite.  The first is a signal of romance and the second is a visit to the ER.  But this is all physical stuff.  What about that invisible but acknowledged part of our bodies that we know is there but can’t locate?  Our soul.  Is it below the bellybutton or in the upper chest area?  We don’t know.

If 2/14 is the heart then so be it but we know the soul tests the judgments of the heart.  Heartbeats alert us for romance but also trouble, school tests, medical tests, an anniversary dinner, a daughter’s promised call or the movie’s villain who finally gets it in the end.

Our heart rates are situational or circumstantial which is great; we either love or hate it.  The soul’s job is to test those throbbing beats.  The soul says, “Let’s hold off on this for a while” before those steps step you closer to meeting her.  The soul says, “Let’s rely on patience before the doctor’s announcement” and you becoming a patient.  The soul says, “Don’t scold your son for something he already knows” when your heart wants to let him have it.  I guess you could say the soul is the referee to the heart’s impulses.

The visible meets the invisible. (Mmm, that sounds familiar…) Isn’t that the incarnation?  We see the invisible Creator God in the visibly risen Christ.

The heart awakens to the life’s wonders, beauties and fears.  The eternal soul tempers rapid heart beats in conversations within ourselves.  We know where the heart lives.  We’re not sure where the soul resides but we’re glad that we have one and that it keeps our heart rhythms in check.