It’s Valentine’s Week, and that always makes me think about hearts and what they have to do with Valentine’s Day, and where did Valentine’s Day really come from anyway?

(If you really want to know the answer, Wikipedia of course has a great article explaining that Valentine was a religious Saint, most likely martyred for his Christian beliefs by the emperor Claudius, and that hearts probably entered the picture with good old Geoffrey Chaucer).

Mostly though, in the spirit of focusing on true love during February, I was interested in what the Bible says about the word “heart.” It is primarily attributed to humankind, and usually refers to mind, emotions, or will.

Though “whole-hearted” living is kind of in fashion right now, it actually originates with the story of shalom God wrote into our very beings. With the Fall, hearts have been broken, but God’s restoring work through Christ transforms our hearts and frees us to live our stories for his glory.

With love and gratitude to my Living Story readers, I offer you…