“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
~ Proverbs 4:23
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That was my heartbeat the other day.
It scared the daylights out of me. I’ve skipped beats before and the doctors say everybody skips a beat once in a while without even noticing, but this was different. I noticed!
It started a couple weeks ago – nothing alarming, just once or twice a day for a few seconds. So, I made an appointment to see my doctor. After a couple tests revealed nothing, the doc set me up with a heart monitor to wear for 24 hours.
That day turned out to be one if my more stressful days of late. I will spare you the details but let’s just say I gave the doctor plenty of data to analyze over the next 24 hours. The end result is this: I need to take better care of myself. I’m not in deep trouble, but I need to guard my heart.
Great wisdom applies to many areas of life. Solomon’s proverbial advice to guard your heart certainly qualifies. I need to guard my heart – my physical heart, my spiritual heart, and my emotional heart. All three, I believe, make up what Solomon calls, “the wellspring if life.” If you’ll pardon the pun, this verse has been on my heart a lot lately – obviously more so this week. Generally, I’ve been thinking of it in terms of needing to guard the hearts of my children as they grow up. There are so many forces attacking their hearts nowadays, it feels like an enormous responsibility to be a dad, the protector and provider. I’m also thinking of it in regards to guarding my own heart, spiritually and emotionally – and now, physically.
“Guard your heart. Treasure it. Defend it, because out of your heart flows anything that makes life worth living. You literally cannot know another person or love them including God without your heart. And they can’t know you or love you deeply unless your heart is present to receive that.” ~ John Eldredge, Desire Conference
Are you starting to get the feeling this heart stuff is critically important? Me, too. How are you doing at guarding your heart?
