MCB CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. – Prov 4.23 (NIV)
We live in base housing and in the middle of April we received a notice from the housing authorities that we needed to spruce up the flower beds in front of the house. Cleaning up the flower beds had been on the to do list for a couple weeks, but there always seemed to be something more important to do, especially since I have never enjoyed yard work. When I looked at the beds, we desperately needed more mulch and the weeds had gotten a little out of hand. So, being good tenants, we reclaimed the beds and avoided the embarrassing consequence of my CO being contacted. A few weeks have gone by now and the weeds are back in force. It’s sad and frustrating how that works. I mean why can’t nice pretty flowers get out of control?
Yet, this is the way this fallen and broken world works. It takes a really long time and a great deal of effort to produce anything good. On the other hand, we all know that it doesn’t take much time at all for something bad to come into our lives and take root. Our scripture today is a proverb of great wisdom. The proverb instructs the student to guard their hearts, for the heart is the wellspring of life. Many of us are keenly aware of just how quickly a seed of bitterness, envy, anger, lust, greed, etc. can sprout and grow to become something destructive in our lives. These weeds grow rapidly, often setting in deep roots that do not want to let go. The essence of the proverb is to make sure that nothing gets planted in your heart that should not be there.
Today I invite you to take a moment and do a quick weed check of your heart. Is there anything sprouting up that needs to be hacked out and uprooted? If so, I invite you to set yourself in the hands of the Master Gardener who knows exactly what you need to deal with to get to the root of the weed. Allow Him to prune and pull and take out whatever does not belong and is preventing better things from growing. Then once you have checked for any weeds, I would invite you to nurture the good things that are growing in your life. Take time to enrich the soil through reading scripture. Quench your thirst from the springs of Living Water. Simply stand in the Son in prayer. These things are promised to produce fruit. It will take time, but in the end I can only imagine what abundance there will be at the harvest!
The Chaplain’s Corner covers everything faith related. Facts not attributed are purely the opinion of the writer.