"above ALL else, guard your heart"

Bob Flayhart is Senior Pastor of Oak Mountain Church, and author of The Bobosphere. If you have never read his blog, I encourage you to do just that. I am not a biblical scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but I was encouraged by his post and wanted to share.


Last week, his post was on the following verse:

Proverbs 4:23-"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

This is a verse that I "know", but I have not taken the time to really meditate on its truths. I must admit, this is one of those verses that I filed away in one of my life's little "chapters" and honestly have not thought much else about it. "Guard your heart" takes me back to the days of dating and Campus Crusade. The quiet times of "some day my prince will come". Not to make light of that time in my life, I do think it is important to guard your heart in the aspect of relationships, but I simply had not given it much thought beyond just that. I love the way Bob broke down this passage to share thoughts on the depth of each word.

Have you ever really thought about what your heart is? I haven't. How much more weight does this verse have in the context of your heart as the TOTALITY of your being?

Excerpts from his post:

"guard your heart"--I have to ask: what is my heart? My heart is the totality of my being, the very core of who I am. My heart is my intellect, my emotions, my will, my motivations, my joys, my priorities, the openness of my life to God and His truth and much, much more! I have a lot to guard...


"guard your heart"--hmmm, that must mean my heart is under attack! Constantly! I need to guard my heart from the lies of the enemy. I need to guard my heart from the mentality of the world. I need to guard my heart from the fallen pull of my own flesh. I need to guard my heart from living out of the pain of past woundedness. I need to guard my heart against living out of self-protection, self-preservation or self-indulgence.

Guard your heart from the mentality of the world. Wow. Well said. But even deeper, guard my heart from the fallen pull of my own flesh. Honestly, I've never thought about guarding my heart from the flesh, guarding my heart from myself, my own sinful nature that desires to live out of self-protection, self-preservation and self-indulgence. What a concept. A life changing, true concept.

"it is the wellspring of life"--I have been created by God and re-created in Christ to be a source, a wellspring, a fountain of life, to all those I come into contact with throughout the day. The life I am able to offer is directly proportional to the life in my own heart...life received from Christ, and His Word and His community. My heart is to be a wellspring of life for others and I need others to refresh my own heart as well."

Lord, let my heart be a wellspring of life.

He cares.

He is in control.

He is the provider.

I have a great big god who is in the business of details.

I want to share a little story, not to boast or broadcast details of our finances, but instead share what I believe to be another little detail He provides to let us know how much we are loved.

John and I have been expecting a check out side of our monthly earnings. My wheels have been spinning like crazy as to the best use of this money. Now, I have NO trouble at all spending money, but there are several different directions that would be beneficial, productive, or necessary for the money to be allocated.

We are not talking about a huge sum by any means. Again, this is about the details.

As I waited on the check, honestly I started to get stressed. Naturally, I think I can control. That I must account for everything on my list for it to all balance in the end. That I have provided this money. Did I pray about how He would have us use the money? Sadly, I only found myself praying for it to arrive!

So wrong.

Life happens and stuff is not always as we plan. Not always an earth shattering detour, sometimes as simple as dead car batteries and extra bills, but "the list" does not always balance.

John and I finally made our game plan as to what we thought would be best to do with our check. I made the deposit, took out cash set aside to complete our project, transferred money a few places. Still stressed forgetting that I am not in control. I was stressed I wasn't getting to "mark off" as much off of my original list and resided to the fact that it did not all balance. Maybe next month. The last major thing we needed to pay was our car tags, both due at the end of this month. I felt confident that the money would have to come from some where else even though I originally hoped otherwise.

John and I discussed all the amounts of money being shifted around in cyber space and he was planning to handle car tags right after work. Flustered, I told him he would probably have to transfer other money etc etc and that after it was all said and done $224.32 would be deposited in to our checking account.

$224.32

John called with a chuckle yesterday afternoon when he processed the car tags.

Totalling $224.06

I take comfort knowing He cares about details. Details SO small as my little checking account. Not only does He provide, but He provides abundantly. No, .26 cents is not what I would call an abundance. But there is such a parallel to our lives. He knows our needs, and even when we think we are in control, how wonderful to know He fills them. perfectly. What a reminder of the great big god we serve.

This time last year

Something about a gorgeous weekend gets me thinking...I was outside for a majority of the weekend and like my Jur, http://lauramielke.blogspot.com/ found myself reflective, and even more so THANKFUL for all the prayers He has answered since "this time last year". So Jur, in response to your post....

While my "this time last year" does not involve any children of my own, there are so many prayers, both big and small that I am amazed how richly the Lord not only heard, but answered them in ways far better than I could have scripted...

I am not a "date remembering" person by nature (sorry Carrie, that may be why History and I never really got along), but as a Wedding Consultant, I could tell you what I was doing nearly every weekend of the last few years. When you work all week ordering, organizing, planning and anticipating a wedding day...those dates tend to stick with you. Even now, dates come again and I find myself thinking about a special couple that married on that day, and hoping they are even more in love now, eating year old cake, or toasting to another year of marriage. But, sadly, as I think about weddings last April, I am brought back to a place that I am beyond thankful the Lord carried me through.

Last April was filled with gorgeous brides, extravagant weddings, and a busy, busy travel schedule. I personally, however, was the closest I have ever been to an emotional breaking point. When I think about details of those weekends, my heart can go exactly to emotions of the day. I was exhausted, emotionally and physically. My heart was heavy. I missed my husband, my family and my friends. My heart ached.

I agonized over the turmoil around me. I carried burdens that were not mine to bear. I allowed my heart to get involved deeply in issues that were not my own.

I was exhausted, and I was HOT. I worked hard. I worked all the time. I worked under tents. I lugged tables, chivari chairs, vases and flowers. When I was not working I was hot. I drove the faithful red jeep...in all her air conditioning-less glory.

I prayed for endurance. I prayed for direction. I prayed for peace.

Endurance, direction, and peace He gave.... In His timing. He gracefully removed me from the daily turmoil. Lightened the burdens from my heart. Part of my "career" path in to the summer would not fall under the category of ideal..but how much sweeter the blessings are now. I am thankful. Thankful for my job. Beyond thankful for my weekends. Thankful to spend time with my husband. Thankful to spend time with friends and family....and OH SO thankful to have a car with air conditioning!

He blessed me not only with new jobs, a few new dear friends, but also introduced new roles in to my life that I am honored to have and that I cherish...this time last year I was not an Aunt. I was not a Godmother. Obviously, just based on blog posts alone, they have brought me so much joy. Children I now love so much, were still, as my mom would say, "A twinkle in their daddy's eye". Prayers for pregnancies were answered. Prayers for swollen feet, blood pressure, and emergency c-sections were answered.

This time last year I was missing Grandmom McFee like crazy. One year later, I still am...but I am also so thankful for one more year with others that I love so much. Thankful for my health and the health of others. Thankful for time. Time to spend with others, and time to think about what a great God hears all of our prayers.

Now, as I think about the prayers I prayed, I think about how they were answered and I am reminded that they were not always answered immediately. What an encouragement to the prayers I pray now. Last year at this time, John and I hoped and prayed he would have the awesome opportunity and responsibility of Shift work. Answered prayer for opportunity, yes. But, as we press on, nearly one year later, tired of the schedule, tired of the hours, I am reminded that it is all a part of His timing...He will faithfully carry us through this as well, and I am sure in ways far better than could be scripted.