Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

Today is Valentine’s Day. Yesterday I had to stop at the store and I saw a guy coming out as I went in with a big box of chocolates under his arm. Then I saw another perusing the red nighties and flowers looking for something his loved one might like. Big pink and red hearts are everywhere and usually filled with chocolate. That’s my kind of heart. Well, not really. My blog and website are called Helping Hearts. If you look under the title on my website, there’s a passage from the bible. Proverb 4:23. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” It’s packed in a wisdom-giving part of the bible just before admonitions to Keep your mouth free of perversity;       keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25  Let your eyes look straight ahead;      fix your gaze directly before you. 26  Give careful thought to the [ c ] paths for your feet      and be steadfast...

Next week is a pivotal week. As we celebrate love on St. Valentine’s Day, we realize that love is to be shared. It’s something you can hold onto only if you give it away.   Last week I wrote about how I enjoy books and sharing them with others, giving you lots of options about how to do so or support nonprofits that do. I guess I was subconsciously gearing up for International Book Giving Day on Valentine’s Day. V-Day is also when we celebrate One Billion Rising to dance against violence done to women worldwide. I wrote about that in January so people could decide how and with whom they were going to dance in support of it. But next week is also one of my favorite weeks of the year because it’s Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Week. Back in January, I warned you that it was coming with my story of how Courtney Fell led a bunch of kids to do random acts of kindness. She had some great ideas for acts of kindness. Now it’s time for even more. The Random Acts of Ki...

In less than three weeks, Valentine’s Day will be here. Now that beautiful day celebrating love has a new meaning. Not only is it the day of love for couples, it is also a day to end violence against women. Not by parading or picketing, but by dancing. One Billion Rising on V-Day is the movement. It’s named for the one billion women who are raped or beaten in their lifetimes. According to the slogan: One billion women violated is an atrocity. One billion women dancing is a revolution. Other than with a few close friends, I have never shared that I was raped when I was 22. I was living in Japan and seeing a guy there. I invited him over to my house for dinner and he took that as an invitation for more than just dinner. It affected me in my relationships with men for at least five years. When I met the man I was to marry, I had to tell him that it was still affecting me sometimes. It wasn’t a constant pain or ache, but sometimes I didn’t want a man to touch me. Now there’s a ...

Next Tuesday we celebrate Valentine’s Day.   My husband will be coming home after being deployed for over six months.   I have already gotten him a card and present and he says he is making something for me.   We can’t wait to see each other after being so long apart. His visit has occupied my and our son’s minds for weeks now. We’re planning all kinds of fun activities and things to show our love for him.   Despite my preoccupation with my husband’s return, there’s something else on my mind about next week.   February 13-19 is also Random Acts of Kindness Week . It’s the season of the heart. We are to show love to our dear ones and to others.   I think the best description of how this is supposed to work was done by Jesus.   Way back in the third book of the bible when Moses was giving out laws, one of them was to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Thousands of years later when Jesus was walking around doing his ministry, he was asked who...