Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. 1 Peter 3:15 (MSG)
We’ve all done it – lost our cool in the heat of the moment, we've let go of control, and lashed out at those we love or sometimes even complete strangers. I have two small children and was grocery shopping with them a month or two ago, with a dodgy uncooperative trolley, when a woman (who was probably having a bad day) decided to comment with a hint of meanness about how slow I was and how unruly my children were, and I LOST IT all over the place… yep.
There are moments of ‘losing your cool’, and then there are seasons of feeling lost and hopeless. Seasons of depression, of waiting, confusion, heartache, etc… And whether it's in the moments or the seasons, keeping our hearts at attention, healthy and whole, can be a challenge. One I know all too well.
When I was 12, a visiting preacher at our Church prayed over me “keep yourself…” – he said it over and over again. As I grew in age and maturity, I began to understand it was an encouragement from God about my heart… one I have needed.
Through thick and thin, no matter what is happening around you or within you, the best way to keep your heart above water is to fill it with Jesus. Give Him room to move; allow Him to take up residence within you. He is the grand tender of our lives… sometimes He will toil the soil of our hearts, in other seasons He will plant seeds, fertilise, water, give warmth and light, cool and shade; he will harvest and pluck out and sometimes prune within the garden of our soul…
Prov 4:23 says “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Whatever springs out of my heart, I want it to be authentic to who God has created me to be; and be cultivated, crafted and grown by my creator. It's the ultimate fusion, the natural and supernatural collaborating and bringing to the world, springing to life, a masterpiece of grace and hope.
It's OK if you ‘lose it’ from time to time, and it's OK to have seasons of hardship. Through thick and thin, keep your heart buoyant with the kind of hope only found in Jesus.