{"id":2591,"date":"2023-05-05T08:03:41","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T12:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2591"},"modified":"2023-05-05T08:03:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T12:03:41","slug":"the-cure-for-a-contaminated-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/05\/the-cure-for-a-contaminated-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cure for a Contaminated Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.
\u00a0
Chicken cordon bleu is a dish that features chicken wrapped around ham and cheese.\u00a0 The exterior is then breaded and fried.
\u00a0
It is a tender and delicious recipe that is entirely worthy of a blue ribbon, which is the French meaning of \u201ccordon bleu.\u201d
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A few years ago I was dining alone in a hotel restaurant in Bucharest, Romania, following a weeklong mission trip.\u00a0 The following morning I would hop into the shuttle to the airport and then take three connecting flights back to Indianapolis.
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My server helpfully interpreted the menu for me.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll have this, please,\u201d I said.\u00a0 It was chicken cordon bleu.\u00a0 I spent the evening reading, turned off the light in my hotel room, and settled into bed.
\u00a0
I awoke unexpectedly just before dawn.\u00a0 The alarm hadn\u2019t even gone off.\u00a0 My stomach felt rather odd.\u00a0 As soon as I got to my feet I thought, \u201cUh-oh.\u201d\u00a0 It occurred to me that I was on the verge of re-experiencing my chicken cordon bleu.
\u00a0
One trip to the bathroom followed another.\u00a0 This had to be food poisoning.\u00a0
\u00a0
I suddenly recalled what a friend had told me years before:\u00a0 Whatever your condition, don\u2019t become a patient in an eastern European hospital.\u00a0 Get yourself on the plane<\/em>.
\u00a0
The shuttle ride to the airport, standing in the passport line, checking my luggage, and heading to the gate turned out to be some of the longest and most uncomfortable moments of my life.
\u00a0
I will never cease being thankful to the crew of my first flight, the one from Bucharest to Amsterdam.\u00a0 Even though I looked like a cast member from The Walking Dead<\/em>, they took me aboard and even compassionately settled me into a first-class seat.
\u00a0
Somewhere over Germany the plane hit some major turbulence \u2013 the kind that encourages passengers to rediscover their prayer life.\u00a0
\u00a0
I was praying, all right: \u201cLord, I\u2019m ready to die.\u00a0 If the plane goes down, I\u2019m so sorry about all these other people, but you can take me right now.\u00a0 If we do make it through this, please make sure I never attend a dinner party where they serve chicken cordon bleu.\u201d
\u00a0
The human body has a dramatic way of dealing with contaminated food:\u00a0 Get it out.\u00a0 Now.\u00a0 All of it.<\/em>\u00a0
\u00a0
Every part of our physiology works together to accomplish this One and Only Mission.\u00a0 The good news is that food poisoning usually runs its course in about 24 hours.
\u00a0
Unfortunately, it\u2019s not nearly so easy to be cleansed of a contaminated heart.
\u00a0
We can be afflicted for years with deep-seated anger; lingering resentments over past hurts; or the kind of envy that prompts us secretly to root for others to fail so we can look better.\u00a0 A 24-hour purge of such soul-polluting attitudes would be merciful.\u00a0 But God, for his own reasons, insists that we follow a longer and more difficult path \u2013 one that requires great humility.
\u00a0
We have to identify what is killing us, then determine that we can and must <\/em>live without it.
\u00a0
David, horrified by the face he sees in the mirror, and wondering if he can ever be healed of soul poisoning, writes: \u201cCreate in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.\u00a0 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.\u00a0 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me\u201d (Psalm 51:10-12).\u00a0
\u00a0
The first step of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous has it just right:\u00a0 \u201cWe admitted we were powerless over alcohol (or greed or lust or despair) \u2013 that our lives had become unmanageable.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
Then, in humility, we surrender ourselves to a power infinitely greater than our own:
\u00a0
\u201cLord, I\u2019m dying.\u00a0 I cannot cleanse my own heart.\u00a0 Purge me of whatever is polluting me spiritually.\u00a0 And give me the grace to trust you for the hope of a new life.\u201d
\u00a0
Miraculously, he will. \u00a0
\u00a0
For he\u2019s a blue-ribbon Healer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here.\u00a0Chicken cordon bleu is a dish that features chicken wrapped around ham and cheese.\u00a0 The exterior is then breaded and fried.\u00a0It is a tender and delicious recipe that is entirely worthy of a blue ribbon, which is the French meaning of \u201ccordon bleu.\u201d\u00a0A few years ago I was dining alone in a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[305],"class_list":["post-2591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-spiritual-cleansing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2593,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591\/revisions\/2593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}