Spirit Matters: Where is your ‘Conviction of the Heart?’

I was a student at Illinois Valley Community College when I first heard Kenny Loggins’ “Conviction of the Heart,” in 1991.

Driving back and forth to classes from Streator, the song would often play on the radio, and it struck a chord with my 19-year-old idealistic heart.

“Conviction of the Heart” showed up again in 1997 on Loggins’ greatest hits compilation, “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.” I purchased the CD in the late 1990s and often listened to it when I drove to Peoria from Bloomington for a day of exploration and relaxation.

This album had a way of speaking to my soul then, and it still speaks to my soul now.

As I listened to it this week on YouTube, couldn’t help but connect Loggins’ passionate performance – the lyrics and the music – with our current state of affairs.

It is as though the song he released in 1991 is speaking – loudly – to us in 2025, asking, pleading with each one of us, where our conviction of the heart is in standing up and advocating for our nation and those who have already lost so much.

Here are some of the lyrics:

Where are the dreams That we once had? This is the time To bring them back

What were the promises Caught on the tips of our tongues?Do we forget or forgive? There’s a whole other life Waiting to be lived when One day we’re brave enough To talk with conviction of the heart ...

Too many years of taking now Isn’t it time to stop somehow? Air that’s too angry to breatheWater our children can’t drink

You’ve heard it Hundreds of times You say you’re aware Believe, and you care But do you care enough Where’s your conviction of the heart?

One with the Earth With the sky One with everything in life I believe it will start With conviction of the heart ...

I have always had an idealistic heart. Some would say that is a weakness. I don’t think it is. The idealism of my youth is now more nuanced, tempered by real life experience with depression, anxiety and grief over other losses.

I have lived through, learned and emerged from these hardships, not on my own, but with the help of countless others. From medical care to counseling, from people praying or holding space for me to others giving me opportunities to share my gifts, I have good reason to still be idealistic.

I know in my bones the ongoing guidance and presence of the Holy Spirit in my life, and that light has a way of shining through the darkness.

The conviction in my heart that we are all interconnected and responsible for one another’s well-being is stronger than ever. When we begin to think and act, knowing that others wellbeing is just as important as our own, miracles begin to happen.

They do.

Every one of us has a voice. We were given that voice to generate life. By advocating for others and protesting laws, policies, politicians, business people and actions that are destructive to human life, our voices – together – have the capacity to generate new life.

Mass firings, cuts to integral medical research, slashes to benefits for the weak and disabled – these are not life-giving now, and they are not life-giving for the future and the nation and earth we will leave behind to our children and grandchildren.

Is this what you want for them?

Where is your conviction of the heart?

SPIRIT MATTERSis a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.