Treasure.

“Your heart will be where your treasure is.” Matthew 6:21

Why is the heart so fragile?

It can span the scope of elated, to crushed, in mere seconds.  It can love deeply in this direction, but scorn spitefully in the other.  Can it really be?  Is it really the same heart?

Following the trajectory of the heart, though it is the most natural thing to do, is painful and exhausting.  A hurt heart, hurts.  A disappointed heart, sorrows.  An offended heart, angers.  A prideful heart, mocks.

When I follow the course set by my heart, emotions rule and the mind swirls.  Solid and peaceful ground is hard to find.

Feeling.

Today was a day like that.  It was hard to make good choices.  I made easy choices instead.

It was easier to take on the apathy and be discouraged than to be optimistic and encouraging.  In fact, it wasn’t just easier to do it that way, I didn’t even know how to make encouragement come out.

Times like that don’t feel like I’m making a choice, the heart just ‘feels’.  And I respond to a ‘feeling’.

The truth is I can choose, even when I ‘feel’.

Focused.

Jesus, You did it all the time.  You experienced a longing for Your people, sorrow for Your friends and agony even.  But you never swayed off course.  You felt your feelings, let them move you, but you used them for the greater good.

When you longed for Your people, You then knew what to ask God for.

When you sorrowed for Your friend, You knew what to ask God for.

And even in Your agony, You boldly knew what to ask God for.

You had a vision – an understanding about who You were and where You were headed.  The unfailing focus on Your purpose allowed You to use the emotions of the heart for fueling the passion of the vision.  Your vision, Your purpose, was more alive and  more powerful because You allowed Your heart to ‘feel’, but not be led astray by it.

The emotions weren’t the end result or the last word.  But, rather, they added depth and breadth to the importance of fulfilling Your purpose.

You felt deeply as you were loved, honored, tested, watched, accused, betrayed, and even killed.  But with Your eyes squarely on the purpose, and  Your heart fully in the hands of God, truth and peace ruled Your living.

The emotions that wanted to shoot You off course, were harnessed with truth about who You were in God, and how much He loved You.

You lived with a well-placed heart.

Choices.

I am not bound to the shifts of my heart, fragile as it may be.  But, rather, the move of Your Spirit.  You know the plans (purpose) You have for me, and love me deeply.  Truth re-routes my sorrow, my anger, my hope back to their purpose in You.

It was hard to make good choices with my heart today, but Your truths bring me back to living in focus.  A heart set on You, instead of me, moves my emotions from ‘triggering a detour to a painful walkabout’, to re-awakening the passion and focus of living on purpose.

I want to live like You – my eyes squarely on my purpose, and my heart fully in Your hands…a  well-placed heart.