On the subject of "Guarding your Heart"...


Good Monday morning to you! Today has been our coolest day of the fall season thus far...another beautiful day! I realize that my mood probably shouldn't be dependent upon the weather, but my goodness, it is hard to not be happy when the weather is so incredibly gorgeous!


Today's passage is Proverbs 4. There is much said about the value of wisdom, and the importance of avoiding evil...all good stuff. The verses that capture my attention this day speak to a slightly different aspect of the subject:


Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.


Several things could be said about this verse...and it raises a few questions too. First, "guard your heart" from what? In context, I suppose we could simply conclude that we're to guard our heart from evil. Such a conclusion would fit nicely into a spiritual check-box for the day...but is that all it's about? What does it mean that our heart is the "wellspring of life"?


I remember this verse well from my youth, and I took seriously the admonition to guard my heart...perhaps to an unhealthy extreme at times. There are times when guarding our heart keeps people at a distance, and in fact, keeps life at a distance as well. A wise man once said,


"The same wall that keeps out hurt also keeps out happiness....so let life touch you...let it change you...risk the hurt so that you can experience all of the happiness that life has to offer."


We do well to guard our hearts from evil, so let's not reject the admonition...rather, let's refine our understanding and our application of it so that we can discriminate wisely about what to keep out, and what to let in.


And then, this verse speaks to me, and gives me a positive visual image to begin the new week:


Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; keep your feet from evil.


Leaders make a decision everyday to focus, so on this Monday morning, let us focus on the level path before us, so that at the end of the day, we will arrive at our desired destination.

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