If your heart were the ocean, what kind of ocean would you like it to be? Rough, tumultuous? Easy-going, serene?

You would consciously choose the easy-going ocean, an ocean ideal for a sailboat, gentle, blown by a breeze. You would not choose a stormy ocean, a hurricane, a typhoon, a cyclone, a whirlwind. You know very well that you would choose a calm ocean.

And, yet, beloveds, what have you often chosen? A rowdy heart. How many times a week do you clutch your heart? How many times a week have you had your heart drop out from under you? Who is it that chooses the way your heart will go? Even in rough seas, you would maintain your balance. Somehow with your heart, your one heart, you let anything go. Up, down, far to the left, far to the right, back and forth, this way or that way. You make your heart a storm even when your heart is safe in port.

Your heart doesn’t have to be wild. Your heart does not have to be a soap opera. Your heart doesn’t have to be any ship in the storm. Have a heart with your heart, and let it take life in its stride. There is no need for you to play havoc with your heart.

You may say you want peace, yet what have you been living?

Even when there is a storm in life, you don’t have to beat your heart up. Hearts are made for love not disturbance. Hearts are meant to sail through life. Hearts are not meant to be rocked, so overridden that they seize up. Make peace with your heart.

If your heart were a ship, you would not always sail it full-steam ahead. You would be a kinder owner than that. You would allow your heart rest-time. You would let go of the pliers that squeeze it. Be a gentle master of your heart. Don’t make it go through conniptions. Make nice to your heart.

Say:

“There, there, heart. You don’t have to be in a squall. Be in calm waters. Heart, I will see that you rest from horrendous activity. I am grateful to you. You beat for me so many times a minute, yet between each beat, take a breather. I will let go of the reins and let you go at an even pulse. That is the least I can do for you. I will not work you so hard from now on.

" I will lead you to the still waters. I will show you how to paddle along in life as if you were a canoe on beautiful lilting water. I will soothe you and anoint you. I will allow you peace and quiet. No longer will I upset you. Whatever may come, I will let go of whipping you. I will not make you heated, not with speed nor upset. I will let you be the heart that God gave me. No longer will I allow you agitation.

"I apologize to you, my heart, for all the disruption I have given you. You have been a good loyal hard-working heart, and no longer will I work you so hard. From now on, I am going to be a blessing to you. We, you and I, dear heart, shall sail up and down the High Seas of Love, and that is what will occupy us. I hear the beat of you, my heart, and it is steady and even.

"Thank you for standing by me and showing me how to smooth the waves of life.”