As I am a student of Cardiology these days, I have been learning of the heart, its structure and functions.. and, as always, I remain fascinated and awestruck at what marvels God has done in our body… Any student of medicine cannot imagine, but wonder at the marvelous creation that we are..
Coming back to the heart, we normally have four valves in our heart , as most of you would remember from your biology classes. Two that separate the right and left upper chambers from the lower ones and two that separate the right and left lower chambers from the great vessels, the aorta and the pulmonary artery. I don’t want to go into much of the details, but just want to bring to your attention something that God put in my heart.
For now, let’s concentrate on the mitral valve, which is the valve that separates the left sided upper chamber ( atrium) from the left lower chamber (ventricle). The mitral valve should be described as an apparatus, that consists of the papillary muscles that anchor the valve to the muscle of the left ventricle, the chordae or tiny thread like structures that attach the papillary muscles to the valve leaflets and finally the valve leaflets, two in number. Please refer to the diagram below to get a clearer understanding of what we are talking.
Although that’s what the diagrammatic representation looks like, the actual anatomical specimen is even more beautiful.
The marvel doesn’t end here. The heart goes through different phases in the cardiac cycle, systole and diastole as we know or at least ‘lub – dub’ as most of us would call it. The mitral valve , too , goes through systole, when the heart contracts and diastole, when the heart relaxes. In diastole, the mitral valve remains open and the left ventricle receives blood from the left atrium. Towards the end of diastole, as the pressure in the left ventricle builds up, at one point, when the pressure in the left ventricle goes above than, that of the left atrium, the mitral valve now closes…there’s tensing of the papillary muscles and the chordae that holds the valve closed.. they hold the valve closed so that no leaks occur through the valve and the leaflets are in tight apposition, normally not a drop of blood leaks through.
Somehow, when I hear the verse, Be still and know that I am God, this scene now flashes on my mind… the mitral valve apparatus holding the valve leaflets closed under so much tension. When so many things are going on in our lives and many a time, we have control over none of it, this verse assures us that we just need to be still …like the mitral valve apparatus at the end of diastole…
God has orchestrated everything so beautifully, many a times we don’t even realize it or take it for granted. So, when He reminds us to be still, let’s just hold on to Him, as tight as ever, knowing with all of our hearts that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Be still!