Today I was having coffee with my husband and the dog – a weekend ritual – when my husband said, “Hey, look at this!” He handed over his iPhone and showed me the image of a beating heart:

I looked over at it with curiosity. Then, with an inner double-take, I felt my eyes pop as my curiosity quickly gave way to amazement. Then my amazement gave way to gratitude and awe.

The deepening of my emotions accompanied the deepening of what I perceived in the picture. As I first encountered the image, I wondered, “What is this?” Instantly, vaguely, I recognized the shape of a heart.

Soon I was looking deeper. I saw electrical impulses charging the heart, muscles contracting, chambers filling, blood rushing, all flawlessly timed. All so generous. So perfect! And all occurring within me right now without my even having to think about it.

I looked up at my husband so comforted. I had been feeling a little blue today. Overwhelmed by having had a bad cold this week, by being concerned about the care and well-being of my 89-year-old mother, very far away; trying to keep up at work, and through it all being sad about having horribly neglected this website. I was feeling–well, frankly–a little sorry for myself that I just didn’t know how to keep up and stay true to the one thing in life – my lifelong love of God – that means the most to me. That relentless juggling act: how to keep your awareness trained dearly on the world of spirit and still keep both feet planted solidly on the ground?

But in one random, inquisitive gesture, my husband was reminding me, that underneath it all, my heartbeat was steady, generous, perfect, constant. I didn’t even have to think about it.

I know this is true, too, of the Divine. It is steady, generous, perfect, constant. It beats beneath and around and through everything we are, everything we do. It never fails us, even when we’re tired, sick, blue. We don’t even have to think about it, either–it will never fail us even though we can enter into long lapses of forgetfulness. But when we do remember… oh, what blessed comfort that is.