Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23
Do you even know how many times the Bible speaks about your heart? Over 1200 times in the NIV! That's a lot of time God spends in His Word talking about a man's (or woman's) heart! It is clearly an important topic to him….but it's more than a topic, our heart, determines how we live our lives, who we live our lives around, and who we live our lives for!
I’ve stood on a stage pretty much my entire life for one reason or another...but as I stood on a stage about a month ago ready to do one of my favorite songs (insert laugh from Shelly ;) You Are For Me, truly has a ridiculous amount of meaning in my life these past couple of years. Anyways, as I stood there and we were waiting to start it, music playing in the back round, I looked up through the windows (slightly discouraged, as I have been for sometime now about a couple of things..only a couple because I’m mostly an eternal optimist which is why my husband & sister cannot stand this place I’ve been in for a while on a few topics) and I looked up towards the sky, I said a simple statement under my breath...God this isn’t the best voice but it’s all I have and I give it to you (pathetic, I know, but where I was at in that moment)
...a simple one line response is what I heard back clearly...yes, but it’s not your voice I want it’s your heart I’m after.
Simple line but so true in every area of our lives isn’t it? I can compete or compare (please, we all do it to varying degrees) my life to others around us and how I may or may not come up short but at the end of the day (or beginning if you’re a morning person ;) it comes down to my heart (your heart) and why we do the things we do....what’s our motivation? Is it bringing glory to God…no matter what it is?! Or does it bring glory to ourselves (secretly of course because nobody would admit that they want that out loud)? Doesn’t really matter what somebody else’s job, talent, gift, calling or whatever you want to call it is. All that matters is that I (you) are doing what God created you to do! That may take some time to figure out or it may change mid stream on you like I believe it has for me...but none the less whatever it is you are meant to do, do it with all your heart and do it for God not to please people, not out of pride because you think you are great, not because of false humility and think you are not great...just do it! (great tag line, eh, can you tell I’m a wife of an Ad guy?)
With that all being said, I am way into figuring out people…always have been. I love to see what makes people do the things they do. I learned very early on that people's actions don't always give the full story, so my whole life I've loved to go past people's personas and see what's in their hearts. Sometimes, it's heavy and deep stuff and sometimes it's lighthearted and fun, but none the less I love to listen to everybody's journeys. At times, I have hated that about myself (because sometimes it hurts to know peoples pain) but most of the time I love learning about somebody. My family often tease me about the fact that I could be in an elevator on the first floor and by the top floor I've gotten to know some or all of the people in the elevator and many times a deep painful story from a stranger. People just need somebody to listen…not always give answers but sometimes just a sounding board.
Because of this “talent or whatever you call it” I was told over and over again my entire life to guard my heart because it is the wellspring of life. It took me years and I mean years (actually still learning) of opening my heart to people only to find out that even though I listen to people's pain and journey's, I still have to guard my own heart from being hurt or connected to much to someone or something because God knows what isn't beneficial to my walk or simply isn't a place I'm suppose to be because I have my heart set on something I want and not what God wants. Now looking back that's probably why my parents told me (and maybe not my sisters as much) to guard my heart. It’s why God chooses to speak about our heart so often....it is the connection to our soul and to our walk with God! What our heart is set on will determine our steps in life...so as we set our hearts on Him, we will follow Him closely and listen to His voice and leading and not to anything else. When it is set on other things we will follow those things instead of God...even if they seem like God things! That’s why He’s after our hearts and speaks so many times about our hearts because when He has our heart the rest of our lives follow! Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Col 3:2
