“A new heart will I give you,” God promises us in Ezekiel. What does this mean?
Our emotions are centered in our hearts, in "the heart of us." We pay a good deal of attention to our feelings nowadays, to those things that anger or distress or discourage us. But that is not the same thing as the emotions that reside in our hearts.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery explained: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Thus, to see with a new heart is to see more as God sees. And a new heart certainly has to imply an open heart. I like what Antonio Porchia said: “In a full heart there is room for everything and in an empty heart there is room for nothing.”
A heart full of love and compassion means a heart full of interest in others. It has been said that if we wish to understand another, we must look into their heart; it has also been said that if we wish to know or understand another, we must look into our own!
Another similar phrase is “a change of heart,” usually implying a softening, an opening, a listening, so that something new can enter therein, perhaps helping us to get to the “heart of things.”
One way to assist in this process is to follow the example of Mary, the mother of Christ. In the midst of the wondrous, momentous things that were happening around her, Mary — in her heart — stepped away from the noise and commotion to the silent core of her own being where, as the scriptures tell us, she "kept all these sayings and pondered them in her heart."
I believe there is great power in this principle. Today it is thought advisable to talk everything out, to hash and re-hash. Women especially simply talk too much! We use too many words without stopping to weigh or access them, as though words were not precious and useful things.
What does it mean to ponder? There is one advisable pattern: we read, we observe, we assimilate, then we ponder what we have seen and learned.
Garth Brooks put into simple words what many great men have said: “What comes from a book is knowledge. What comes from the heart is wisdom.”
Brother Brigham said, "The person who applies his heart to wisdom, and seeks diligently for understanding, will grow mighty in Israel."
There are so many precious things that open to us only after great effort, and the act of pondering is essential to some of these.
Our leaders have told us to ponder the scriptures, to ponder the hymn texts, to ponder as we take the sacred emblems of the sacrament, to ponder as we kneel and pray.
As we ponder the experiences we have had, the challenges and trials that lie before us, the important decisions we must make, we can often gain new insights and actually see aspects that would otherwise remain hidden. This is one of the ways in which understanding comes. Wisdom and understanding enter our hearts as we ponder and give room for the Spirit to guide our thoughts and direct our wandering sensations aright.
If we ponder our blessings, we gain a sense of wonder, and gratitude enters to warm the sometimes chilly chambers of our heart. Nothing is truly seen, nothing becomes deep and real to us until it enters our being becoming part of what we are.
Time — where do we find time for such a luxury as pondering? That is a legitimate question, and yet, pondering is not a luxury; it is as essential as food and air and sleep. It is the process whereby we get truth and beauty inside ourselves, and ourselves inside the reality of beauty and truth. We starve our hearts and rob ourselves of the riches of the Spirit by brushing aside those things we were put here — not only to learn but to enjoy!
Our hearts are hungry; our hearts are yearning. In this season of the Savior there is much before us for them to feast upon. As we contemplate the life of the Christ and the time of his birth, as we ponder miracles and wonders and blessings, let us try to hold these sacred messages and images in our hearts.
A Japanese proverb says, “Because your heart is so beautiful, everything looks beautiful to you.”
May this be one of the gifts that comes to us this Christmastide.