guard

Above all else,

   guard your heart,

for it affects

     everything

you do.

     Proverbs 5:23



This is the life verse of one of my most wonderful sons.

He's had it tattooed over this heart.

And he really does guard his heart.

And it shows.



One of the definitions for the word, "guard" on dictionary.com is "to keep safe from harm or danger; protect; watch over".


We live in a world & culture that is saturated with all kinds of things that we should keep ourselves "safe from harm or danger."

Think of the things that assault us every day in our world & culture...

     sex,

     porn,

     greed,

     selfishness,

     performance based love,

     abuse,

     bullying,

     racism,

     indifference,

     abandonment,

     success orientations,

     the constant pursuit of "the American Dream",

     sharp hateful political mouthings,

     ignoring,

     intolerance,

     impatience,

     belittling,

     sarcasm,

     stupidity,

     lying,

     cheating,

     stealing,

     aggression,

     deceit,

     manipulation,

     gluttony,

     jealousy.

     __________________________ (you fill in the blank)



All of this is vying for our attention, trying to get a foothold in our hearts & lives.

When a friend of mine is confronted by something that assaults his heart & mind, he just looks away for a moment, or longer.

He says if he doesn't look at it, there's less of a chance it will suck him into some sort of hypnotic absorption with it.

Maybe we'd all be better off if we just looked away sometimes - if we just simply turned away from something or someone who's trying to suck us into something that we know isn't of God &/or consistent to who & what He is.

Easy to say, hard to do.


But the psalmist says that our hearts, or the center of our very essence, is affected by what we allow into our psyche - affecting everything we are & do.

How do you guard yourselves from all the dark forces all around us.

Sometimes I just don't go to place where darkness resides, whether that's within my own heart & soul, or in the world.

As John Wood says sometimes, "It's hard to get shot in Atlanta if you're not in Atlanta."

Maybe we should mute the commercials & look away from the TV or computer screen.

Maybe we should just turn away from a lot of things.


Tell me what you think we should do to "guard our hearts".

Maybe it will help me to guard my heart more & better.

And it may help someone else who reads this blog.