A Hard Heart

Part of living life from the Spiritually Inclined perspective requires a softening of the heart.  So many people today are living with a hardened heart.  I was one of those people for a period of time, I know how it happens.  It starts by feeling wronged by someone close to you whom you have shared your inner most fears and deepest feelings with.  This heart injury leads to the building of a wall around the heart.  When those deep seated feelings of heartache linger, it turns to other feelings of sadness or anger.  As one continues to go through life with these feelings of hurt, pain and anger, the "filters of perspective" begin to warp the view of life.  At this point, life appears to be more difficult.  Nothing may seem to go my way and, shortly thereafter, feelings of angst and sorrow build a fortress around the heart, protecting it from any further injury.  This is a hardened heart and it results from pain, injury and self-protection.  A hardened heart has no room for the principles of truth and light that Jesus brings to us.

I don't have the insight on how to totally soften a heart.  I do know that the book of Psalms is a great place to start as it is a book of praise for the Lord. 

Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.  Psalm 16:1

Developing a softened heart, this I know for sure, requires the ability to trust in God.  To trust that God knows what is best for me, and that He will never leave me or forsake me, is a great place to begin healing.  It also requires walking a new path in life.  A path that is not always illuminated, easy to navigate or necessarily safe.  To walk this new path is to walk by faith, not by sight, knowing that the Lord is my shepherd and will lead me and take care of me and my needs.  In Psalm 15 David asks, "Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?"  and answers with what I feel to be a key passage to living a Godly life, with a softened heart::  He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man...He who does these things will never be shaken.

Our Lord, Jesus, wants to build a fortress of Love in your heart.  To do so means that we are open and willing to let him in. We must open our heart to Him.  He is standing there, waiting.  Unlike anyone else you may know or love, He is not going anywhere.  You can trust in Him. Turn your heart over to the great comforter and healer.  That is my desire for today.