HEART CONDITION

Although my pen has been set aside the last few months, I haven’t thrown it away like “an old, worn out pair of shoes” in favor of shiny new ones or a new pastime or a new interest. To the contrary, I’ve had too much to write about, ideas swirling in my head, bombarding each other, creating more confusion than clarity. But then I read something that pulled me up short.  

“…at the end of your life one of three things will happen to your heart: it will grow hard, it will be broken, or it will be tender.  Nobody escapes.”*

What shocked me was the immediate awareness that the condition of my heart is my choice.

It felt like someone poured a gallon of ice water on my head. Time to wake up!  Take stock! Where IS my heart?

The writer continues, “Your heart will become coarse and desensitized, be crushed under the weight of disappointment, or be made tender by that which makes the heart of God tender as well.”

My first reaction was to cry out, “Oh God, don’t let my heart get hardened!” But oh how I wish my first cry had been, “Oh God, make my heart tender over what matters to you!”

When your body doesn’t move as quickly as it use to and others take over tasks you use to do, it is easy to settle in one’s comfort zone.  I could be wrong, but I suspect that is the most dangerous place to be, the place where the heart is in the greatest danger…physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Father God, let not our hearts be hardened. May we press our hearts close to yours.  May we share with others the tenderness of your love which you have given to us.

*The Grand Weaver, Ravi Zacharias, Zondervan, 2007, Kindle Edition, page 39.