In the The Key to a Loving Heart, renowned author Karen Mains suggests practical principles and true-life illustrations that help us understand and practice true forgiveness within ourselves, and in our corporate Body, the church.

Our heart is a habitation,” says Karen Mains. “There is a mansion in our souls for which we need to take intimate responsibility.” Unfortunately, because of sin, our hearts consist of “mean rooms, damp basements, narrow hallways, cramped spaces . . . The place God created to be open to the fresh wind of his Spirit, the dwelling he desires to occupy in order that it may be habitable to others, has become boarded. the windows are shuttered, the blinds drawn. Dust is accumulating. The doors have been padlocked.”

What is the key that will unlock a wide veranda here, a turret spiraling there, or a whole new wing of rooms? The key that opens the door to the locked rooms of our hearts is forgiveness. And that is what this book is all about . . .

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by Karen Mains

We’ve been traveling a lot this year: France with a group of 16 “pilgrims” in October/November 2008; Hot Springs, Arkansas for a Christmas week just with my husband and myself; Phoenix in February 2009 for a working trip with my eldest son and a visit with the “Phoenix” grandkids; three weeks in Kenya in March 2009 for filming regarding the Global Bag Project; two weeks cruising up the Eastern Seaboard and down the New England Coast with grandkids; a week at our annual Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada with 22 friends who are theatre aficionados; a week in the British Virgin Islands as guests of our son-in-law’s parents; then David (without me—thank God) taking off for Kenya for more filming!

I keep hearing myself saying, “I’m not home long enough to get into any rhythm.” This morning, while talk with my adult daughter on the phone, she said exactly the same thing, “I keep getting interrupted so frequently, I can’t strike a rhythm.

It seems to me that, without knowing it, many of us are trying establish some kind of cycling regularity in our days, our weeks, our months, even in our years. We need this outward harmony in order to protect and nurture an inward harmony.

Intriguingly, Christianity is really built on establishing these kinds of rhythms—I time, in daily living, in devotional life, in our worship and friendship. There is a kind of sacred dance available for all of us who feel “out-of-step” in this disjointed world with its scary multitasking responsibilities. Many of my friends, sincere Christian women, comment on this in our Hungry Souls Listening Groups. They say, “I can’t catch my breath, I’m so busy.” “The world (the pace, the schedules) are moving so fast.” “The demands are so daunting.” They are expressing this feeling of not being able to get back into some kind of rhythm. Read the full article on Hungry Souls...

by Karen Mains

“Why didn’t I do that sooner?”

Have you ever asked yourself this question? I usually slip into a state of bemused amazement when a task I’ve been putting off for months (or years) takes all of ten minutes (or an hour, or half a day) to complete. Suddenly, the onerous chore, the very thought of which filled me with dread, is done. I am overwhelmed with the warmth of job-well-done satisfaction.

This summer I’ve been forced to face a character flaw, something off-kilter in my basic makeup. I put off for months (years, sometimes!) household tasks I don’t want to undertake. This tendency has been counterbalanced by one son, who shames me into finishing hated projects.

“You know, Mom, this looks awful out here!” Joel Mains commented one summer about the weed garden at our front door. He was right—it did look awful. I had hauled paving bricks from the city when we moved to the West Chicago house in 1977. Some had been laid for the front walk, but 22 years later the rest were still hunkering up against the west side of the house. The plan for a front-door patio garden was hidden in my head. Read more at SoulishFood...