Racing into the Heart of God

Recently I was speaking with a homeless man of about 30 years of age who was lamenting his inabiltiy to find a girlfriend. Although this problem was daunting on so many levels (where do you take a woman on a date when you're homeless, have no car and no money?), I nevertheless took him and his plight seriously, and listened. He was clearly restless and discouraged so - after listening to him for a good long while - I gave him the best advice I've ever taken myself. Do not walk but RACE into the heart of God because inside the heart of God is where every good thing awaits you.

I picture it kind of like the Sleepy Time bear, nestled into an oversized, stuffed chair, a fire burning bright in the hearth, a hot cup of tea at hand. In other words, contentment awaits you inside the heart of God. But this is not to say that rest and relaxation is the only thing you'll find in the heart of God. Sometimes it's where you get dusted off, stood up straight again, and headed back out into battle. It's where you get the strength to endure the good fight, to not cut corners in your daily walk with God, to do the hard thing you may be called to that you'd like to pass on.

The other thing about residing in the heart of God is this is the storehouse of every good thing you could want to hand out to those you love. It's where wisdom resides, patience, love, joy, goodness, and hope. I can almost see us standing in the immense storehouse that is God and handing out love, joy and hope by our words and actions as if they were parcels. We figuratively - and in reality - hand these very things out when we act in loving ways to people, bringing hope and healing by the things we say and do.

Recently I had the opportunity to dress up as Mrs. Claus on Santana Row in San Jose - even renting a beautiful costume complete with the white hair, red dress with fur trim and a wonderful red cape. Since I'm not always an extrovert, I had to gear up to personify what I believe Mrs. Claus is all about. As the wife of St. Nick, Mrs. Claus would be a Christian and she would have a heart for children. She would need to be a beacon of light and hope for a world that endures so much pain and hardship. And she would need to be all-inclusive, extending the love of Christ to any and all. Finally, she would need to have a sense of God's abundance as being more than ample for everyone.

Again and again on this day, I found myself returning to the "storehouse" that is God - even the very heart of God - where I could restore my stockpile of love, hope and joy to pass it out freely and to anyone with an open heart to receive it. After 5 hours, my feet began to need a break - but the love of Christ shone just as bright - because there's never an end to God's provision.

James, widely believed to be the brother of Jesus, says in James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." Pockets of Dreams, now selling our third generation of whimsical, pocketed dresses, purses and separates, is doing just that - reaching across the world to little girls and women and giving them a chance at a life free from trafficking, poverty and sickness. Grants are provided to women in Uganda, enabling them to begin or expand on their own sewing business and find their way out of poverty. What could be closer to the heart of God than that?