When God rests in your heart

I think I understand a little better what Jesus meant when He told Marcel He wanted to rest in his heart. I think it’s what I’m learning from my relationship with Emma. I’m almost constantly suffering, and at some point I need a break in order to prevent myself from being overwhelmed. When I talk to her it’s like I rest in her heart. It doesn’t matter what we talk about, and even if we have an argument it’s better than being completely alone with my suffering. Talking to her takes the focus and pressure off of me and lets me focus on her, so it’s like a release valve for all the anxiety and pain that’s been building up all day. Maybe in some small way that’s how Jesus feels when He goes in search of love in the hearts of people every day and finds so few souls who love Him. He must get really tired of being rejected or being ignored by the people He created. He’s done so much for them even though they might not know it, and they give Him nothing in return. That must wound His heart in a way I can’t imagine because I can’t imagine loving finite beings with an infinite love. But maybe to some small extent, when He finds a soul who truly loves Him, His pain and sorrow can be alleviated, and He can pour all of the love He wants to give to other souls into that soul and receive some of that soul’s love in return. Maybe it’s like a man who’s dying from thirst and just wants a small glass of water, and he goes from door to door in his village asking for one but everyone says they only have enough for their families. Then at the last door he knocks on the man living there opens it and says he has extra water and will give him all of it. The dying man drinks as much as he can and offers to stay with that man as long as he wants to be his servant because he’s so grateful that he gave him what he needed. It turns out the man with the water needed someone to help him around the house and work in his fields, so both men give each other what they need. The limitation of this analogy is that God doesn’t really need us, but chooses to need us because He loves us so much that it drives Him to desire our love the way a beggar desires food. God chooses to become poor so that we can become rich in love. I’m also like that beggar because I need Emma’s love and presence in my life, because I’m dying from the weight of my fears, sins, and suffering. Emma helps me carry my cross, and in that way I rest in her heart, because my own heart is restless, miserable, and broken. I think in this way I’m resting in God’s heart because He’s in Emma’s heart. He’s helping me carry my cross through her, and for that I’ll always be grateful to Him and to her. I hope I can do the same for Jesus and Emma with the little love I have in my heart.