Guard Your Heart
Ok. I have an addiction. I like changing out my phone covers. I have a pretty pink phone so I wanted a cover that was clear and I found one with flowers that was perfect until … I found one with rainbows. I was totally feeling the rainbow vibe at the time and then … I found one with rainbow-y flowers. The perfect combination until … I found one with penguins. For as long as I can remember these cute, short birds with no legs have spoken to this 5 foot almost 1 inch girl so I had to have something that represented me but then … I started working at a library and the dark academia case filled with books and mystery found its way onto my phone.
Each one does the job of protecting my phone and they have the added bonus of making me smile.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 Ok. You have a mission should you choose to accept it. Go and read all of Proverbs 4. I wanted to include the whole chapter in this article but then I thought it would get too long and no one would read it. So here’s a synopsis: In the chapter the author (believed to be King Solomon) is writing to his son about the importance of gaining and holding onto wisdom. He says that wisdom will come at a cost, but it is worth the price because it will bring understanding and grace and it will keep his son on the path to righteousness and away from wickedness. That’s why in this verse he says to “guard your heart.” He is saying to store up that wisdom in your heart and then protect it with all that you have because everything you do flows from your heart.
In the hurricane of events that have been frantically swirling around my life and our world, I have had to work extra hard to guard my heart. The anger that I feel at the injustice that I see could easily consume my hope, my compassion, my patience, and my peace.
Some days I am a woman on the edge. Yet, by guarding the wisdom in my heart I am better able to distinguish provable facts from my personal and occasionally skewed opinions. I can look at what is happening through the lens of history and remember that history bends toward justice. I can avoid getting into arguments with random strangers on the internet and instead have meaningful discussions with people I know and love face to face.
When I guard my heart and guard my wisdom and guard the spirit of God that I try to carry with me, then what will flow from me will be the fruits of the spirit that are outlined in the book of Galatians: peace, patience, kindness, joy, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and most of all … Love. (But don’t expect them all at once. I fall off the edge once in a while. I am a work in progress.)” Becky Long
Pastor Don is the Senior Pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church, 1212 Calhoun St., Macomb, IL 61455
