Hey, Bridgeway!
I know that most of you are focused on real-life stuff: paying bills, politics at the office, wondering where your teenager is, if this is the year to replace your car, and when will the Washington Football Team finally pick a new name.
But that’s the problem. It is the immediate stuff that screams for our attention that gets it, and those are often not the most important. Things like self-care, a long slow conversation with your best friend, going for a long bike ride, listening to a piece of music that you love, reading your Bible…slowly, wondering how to invest the next 10 years of your life into and more. These things rarely scream for attention like a wet-diaper baby but often the kinds of things that our heart and soul need from us.
Proverbs 4:23 says: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life (ESV).
Vigilance! Is that the word you would describe the care of your interior life? Vigilance? For most people, the truthful answer is “no.” The inner life gets scraps and leftovers, and our life suffers the long-term effects of this neglect: boredom, exhaustion, frantic hurry, discouragement, hopelessness, mindlessness, and many more because it is from that neglected space “flow the springs of life.”
“Springs of life” sounds like a refreshing, lively, healthy place to get a drink from. Would anyone want to drink from your soul’s spring of life? Would you?!
Don’t ignore it. LISTEN to it. Respond to it. For some of you, you need to turn EVERYTHING off and take a nap! That might be the most soul-nurturing thing you could do today. Take a day off and sit at Centennial Park for HOURS. Pick up the phone and reconnect with one of your closest friends you miss. Spend time in the Bible UNHURRIED without a clock determining when you are done.
What kind of a heart keeper are you? The answer to that question will determine the flow of your life in both negative and positive ones.
Ask the Holy Spirit for help, help in becoming a faithful keeper of your heart. What are the first suggestions from him?