Check Your Heart

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." - Proverbs 4:23

Have you ever done or said something that hurt someone and then wondered how you could have done it?  You think of yourself as a good person but your actions did not reflect the same.  You think, " That wasn't like me."  Or was it?

The truth is, we can only do and say what is in our hearts.  Proverbs 23:7 tells us that we are as we think in our hearts.  Our actions are the results of our thoughts, and it is in our thoughts that the battle for Life and death take place.

If "Life and death are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21), we must  fiercely guard the hearts that influence what our tongues will speak.

Think of your physical heart.  Everything that enters your body affects it.  In the same way, everything that enters your spiritual "heart" affects it and will influence how it functions in a positive or negative way.  Your physical heart flows within your body, but because we are spiritual beings, or spiritual "heart" flows not only within us, but also to God and to those we come into contact with.  The spiritual circulatory system is much more complex than the physical, and much more delicate.  What you eat physically affects you physically, but what you eat spiritually affects everyone.

In the same way that a healthy physical heart needs certain nutrients in order to work properly, a healthy spiritual "heart" needs a steady diet of good spiritual food.  If you consistently eat an improper diet, you risk heart disease, stroke, and even death.  Diet alone can influence so much, both physically and spiritually. 

In the same way that a healthy physical heart needs to be exercised through vigorous activity, the spiritual "heart" needs to be exercised through constant prayer and meditation on spiritual things.  Keep your spiritual heart rate high!

If you want to not only survive, but thrive, check your heart.  How are you feeding your heart? Is it getting enough exercise?  Many of us are suffering from spiritual heart attacks - our spiritual hearts are failing and we are dying inside.  But God is a mighty healer, both physically and spiritually, and He can repair or replace a faulty heart.  All we have to do is check ourselves in to His Heavenly Hospital.  He also makes house calls, and all treatments have been prepaid.

Check your heart.  Your Life depends on it.

Be Good-Looking

Are you good-looking? 

Most people would look in a mirror, check themselves out and answer, "yes", but that's not what I'm talking about here.

Good-looking people are those who look for good things in Life.  They do good and expect good to surround them.  They encourage posititivy, they seek peace, they love openly and completely. They don't kill dreams, or destroy reputations.  They don't envy the success of others, but support and learn from their achievements.

Good-looking people don't ignore the bad things; they just don't dwell on them.

"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."  - Philippians 4:8

So, are you good-looking?

Do-over

I love to create, but I realized that there were some things in my physical and mental spaces that had to go.  They were holding me back.  Moving forward is harder if you are carring what you don't need.

I'd love to say, "push through and make things happen", but the truth is that, while there is a time for that, there is also a time when we have to stop, regroup, adjust our direction when we've gone off track, and then move forward.

Don't be afraid to start over or change your plan. Life doesn't always work out the way we want it to. You are not a failure if you've learned from your mistakes and you don't repeat them. You only fail if you give up.