"So God created mankind in his own image." --Genesis 1:27

Read: Genesis 1

I sat there on the table, lying back with my shirt open, 12 electrodes connected to my torso. The nurse, sitting beside a monitor, applied a generous helping of gel to my chest. When she began her passes with the ultrasound wand, the monitor sprang to life with flickering images of my heart and speakers bellowed the sounds of my life's blood passing through its four chambers. And though this echocardiogram was just part of a scheduled follow-up, I realized that the simple, constant miracle that is my heartbeat is anything but routine.

Among the things we take for granted on a daily basis, our heartbeat has to be right at the top of the list. This muscle, which is about the size of your fist and sparked into action around 40 days after you were conceived, beats rhythmically in your chest to the tune of 100,000 times per day, carrying oxygen and other nutrients to the rest of your body. Rarely, if ever, do we stop to acknowledge its existence -- we simply count on it to do its job.

Equal parts meticulous and miraculous, our hearts were crafted and set into motion by a loving God whose will it was for us to use them to thrive, to move, to play, to worship, to witness. Isn't it possible that all of these traits are more intimately connected than we may have ever imagined? Without the heart -- or the body for that matter -- what's the soul to do?

--Eric Velazquez

Question: Knowing that God created your heart with both passion and purpose, and that a physically healthy heart can make you more spiritually effective, what will you do today to make it stronger?

RECIPE: ORANGE-CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Ready for dessert? Try this tasty, guilt-minimal recipe from PrayFit contributing nutritionist Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC.