The Clallery

"God is far less concerned about your behaviors than you think He is, and He is far more concerned with your heart than you’ll ever know. I’m not condoning sin. But I am saying that the heart is the issue—if you get the heart in right alignment with God, the behaviors follow."  ~ Rob Reimer, "Soul Care: 7 Transformational Principles for a Healthy Soul", Carpenter's Son Publishing (2016). Bible passages to ponder... Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart,     for everything you do flows from it. Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,     and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

“Heart pondering is noticing what arises in our depths in response to something – feelings, memories, longings, hopes, and fears. This is what Mary the mother of Jesus did at the Annunciation when she pondered what she had heard from the angel in her heart. Mental pondering adds enormous value to normal thinking but heart pondering broadens both the inner reflective space and the tools you bring to the pondering. Don’t settle for mental pondering. Begin to also learn and practice heart pondering.” ~David G. Benner, Living Wisdom: Acquiring the Mind and Heart of Christ (2018, Cascadia Publications, Toronto, Canada), available as a free PDF download from www.drdavidgbenner.ca, p.12-13. A Bible passage to ponder... Luke 1:46-55 (Mary's Song) And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy ...

“Christian spirituality is, in its entirety, rooted in and shaped by the spiritual text. We don’t form our personal spiritual lives out of a random assemblage of favorite texts in combination with individual circumstances; we are formed by the Holy Spirit in accordance with the text of Holy Scripture, God does not put us in charge of forming our personal spiritualities. We grow in accordance with the revealed Word implanted in us by the Spirit.”  ~Peterson, Eugene H. (2006). Eat This Book. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, p.15. A Bible passage to ponder... John     6:48-50 "I am [Jesus is] the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die."