Follow Your Heart

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00708 Follow your Heart 

“Above all else, guard your heart,
   for everything you do flows from it.”

(Proverbs 4:23) 

            We need to make decisions to get through every day. Sometimes we know we are wrong when we make them. My bad choices involve skipping exercise sessions, eating an extra cookie, and putting off something until tomorrow. During the 1960s, my dark period, my daily decisions were challenging and created a life of darkness. My focus during those years had much to do with “self.” I was not listening to my heart and ended up divorced and chemically dependent. 

            Somehow, we get punished when we focus too much on our self-interests. As a young married adult, part of my focus was education; another was earning enough money to survive; a third was my golf game. My family life was a distant fourth priority. In summary, I attended Northeastern University two or three evenings a week, worked full time, had a part-time job at the YMCA teaching fitness and coaching, maintained a seven handicap, and maybe had too many beers. My focus was all on myself.         

            Dr. Joyce Meyer says, “You cannot be selfish and happy. The two never go together.”  My life from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s confirms that. Somehow, there was a conversion through my church, twelve-step programs, and my newfound attention to family. I am blessed. 

            Today, my message is simple: if you are not as happy as you would like to be (And is any of us?), the solution lies in spiritual growth, both personal and within our family and friends, or being true to your heart. 

Thought for the Day:  For today, stop when you feel stressed or unhappy. Try to feel what it is all about. Then try to be more faithful to our hearts. Chances are, it will be a conflict between doing what our heart says rather than what our calendar says. 

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, today we give thanks for the many blessings you have given us. We are incredibly blessed by friends, family, and those around us.

Amen