Make Melody in your Heart

Hey, everyone!

Wow! What a moon! It was sooooo huge this morning!! 

I was out running…

just like everyday…

and now even at 7:00 am it’s still pretty dark and quiet!

And there are so many wonders to see!

A shooting star…

The morning star…

And this first full moon of spring! 

They call the first spring full moon, the “Goose Moon”…

the “Eagle Moon”…

or the “ Worm Moon”!

(That’s because the warming soil of spring encourages the earthworms to come up and out…

And the robins invite them to come inside for breakfast!)

But out there jogging alone in the quiet, I like to call the morning moon…a gift!

From Abba to me!

Running is so good for your heart! 

It lowers your blood pressure and your resting heart rate, and raises your good cholesterol and your mood!

There was a guy named Clarence DeMar who ran to work at his Boston print shop and back home at the end of the day, everyday…

(about 14 miles daily!)…

and in the years between 1911 and 1930, he won the Boston Marathon seven times!

And when he left this world, it wasn’t his heart that stopped his clock!

Two Boston cardiologists checked it out and found that the 70 year old left behind the ticker of a 17 year old!

But surprisingly, the healthiest runners, cardiologically speaking, are the slower ones! 

A BBC Science study showed that the heart-healthiest runners jog along at “conversational speed”, or no faster than slow enough to chat with someone!

(Consistently going faster than that for years can actually stress your heart!)

“Are you jogging right now??”, is a question I get a bunch!

Because I’m often talking to people on the phone while I’m out running my miles in the afternoon!

“How can you do that??” they ask.

It’s easy! 

Go slow!

“Slow enough to chat with you!”

But early in the morning…

when there aren’t many up yet who are in the mood to “conversate”…

I run slow enough to sing!

I put on one of my “Praise” playlists…

and sing along!! 

“…You were enough for me then!

You’ll be enough for me now!

And that’s enough to hope a little longer!

For impossible things!

You’ll do impossible things!…”

My neighbors would think I’m nuts if they were outside that early!

But tucked away in our quiet Oliver Springs “holler in the country”…

the “ox (or cows!) and ass” have been known to “before Him, bow”.

And I like to think they join me in praising our mutual King! 

Someone might be saying…

“I’d love to know how to begin my day without feeling just kinda blah, the way I often do.”

Well, to have a full heart may actually be easier than you might think. 

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5 and let’s read together beginning at verse 18…

“…be filled with the Spirit…”

(This really means, “be filled in your spirit…In other words, keep your spirit full!)

“How?”

Keep reading!

“Keep filled in the spirit…with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord!” (Ephesians 5:18-19)

Singing!

Singing praises to Him!

Early if you can!

In the morning, sing praises to Him Who made the springtime full moon for you!

When you jog slow enough to chat, it’s good for your one heart!

And when you run “the race set before you” (Hebrews 12:1)…

and you run it slow enough to sing…

to Him…

NOTHING could be better for your other…your inner…heart!