We continued to study Proverbs at church this past weekend.
“Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life”
I’ve never really read Proverbs before but I am finding that I just love it. It’s eloquent and beautiful and so simple in nature.
We discussed well-being this week and how guarding your heart, the very essence and core of your being, is the key to wholeness. Of course, by “heart”, it implies your soul and spirit far more than it implies your physical beating heart but just to be safe, they encourage that as well!!!
Studying Proverbs has really given me the desire to weed out the negative in my life. I’d like to think that our life is surrounded by a lot of very positive and loving influences and, for the most part, it is. But if you take a closer look at anything, you’ll start to notice the little things; the things that often fall between the cracks or the habits that often get overlooked. I’ve been trying to take the time lately to not only notice these things but also give myself permission to be very honest about them as well (the significantly more challenging of the two tasks!).
The result has been an autumn purging of sorts. I’ve decided to dust off corners of my life the same way we do the basement! This has included evaluating certain beliefs, behaviours and, in some cases, relationships that may no longer be very healthy for me; relationships that seems to be taking a lot more than they are giving. It’s not easy being on the other end of a purge. I know because I’ve been there myself but in retrospect, I can also vouch for the fact that once the initial blow to the gut was over, it was the best thing for me as well because prior to that…I simply wasn’t brave enough to do it myself.
The bottom line though is that everyone deserves to be happy in their relationships, regardless of their nature. We all deserve to feel accepted, understood and in the midst of a dynamic that encourages us to be the very best version of ourselves as opposed to feeling threatened. Upon further reflection, I came to realize that not all of my relationships were like this nor were they ever going to be, for either party…and so we make decisions accordingly, for the best interest of everyone.
I’ve also noticed that “guarding my heart” also included guarding my blog! I’ve realized that some people actually come here with no genuine interest in my words or my life but rather, to simply stay connected in a way that seeks out the negativity. People that I no longer share my day to day life with come here in hopes of seeing sadness and despair in my life (and if it’s not there, they try to add to it themselves) and that, by all means, does nothing to nurture anyone’s well-being. I’ve always trusted the motives of others and assumed that if they came here, it was for nothing more than the best of intentions. I know now that this isn’t always true (that’s the being honest part!). They know who they are and I know who they are and yet, cyberspace seems to give just the right amount of perceived anonymity to make the release of their toxic energy more acceptable.
So I’m choosing to take the first step in protecting my blog the same way I am determined to protect my heart. I’m not sure if the simple step will work but I have to believe in the goodness of humanity enough to believe that not every element of our lives need to be password protected.
So here we go! I’m quite certain that it’s not what Proverbs had in mind when it said “guard your heart” but I’m pretty sure that the writer of Proverbs didn’t have to deal with the information super highway either!
“Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life”
I’ve never really read Proverbs before but I am finding that I just love it. It’s eloquent and beautiful and so simple in nature.
We discussed well-being this week and how guarding your heart, the very essence and core of your being, is the key to wholeness. Of course, by “heart”, it implies your soul and spirit far more than it implies your physical beating heart but just to be safe, they encourage that as well!!!
Studying Proverbs has really given me the desire to weed out the negative in my life. I’d like to think that our life is surrounded by a lot of very positive and loving influences and, for the most part, it is. But if you take a closer look at anything, you’ll start to notice the little things; the things that often fall between the cracks or the habits that often get overlooked. I’ve been trying to take the time lately to not only notice these things but also give myself permission to be very honest about them as well (the significantly more challenging of the two tasks!).
The result has been an autumn purging of sorts. I’ve decided to dust off corners of my life the same way we do the basement! This has included evaluating certain beliefs, behaviours and, in some cases, relationships that may no longer be very healthy for me; relationships that seems to be taking a lot more than they are giving. It’s not easy being on the other end of a purge. I know because I’ve been there myself but in retrospect, I can also vouch for the fact that once the initial blow to the gut was over, it was the best thing for me as well because prior to that…I simply wasn’t brave enough to do it myself.
The bottom line though is that everyone deserves to be happy in their relationships, regardless of their nature. We all deserve to feel accepted, understood and in the midst of a dynamic that encourages us to be the very best version of ourselves as opposed to feeling threatened. Upon further reflection, I came to realize that not all of my relationships were like this nor were they ever going to be, for either party…and so we make decisions accordingly, for the best interest of everyone.
I’ve also noticed that “guarding my heart” also included guarding my blog! I’ve realized that some people actually come here with no genuine interest in my words or my life but rather, to simply stay connected in a way that seeks out the negativity. People that I no longer share my day to day life with come here in hopes of seeing sadness and despair in my life (and if it’s not there, they try to add to it themselves) and that, by all means, does nothing to nurture anyone’s well-being. I’ve always trusted the motives of others and assumed that if they came here, it was for nothing more than the best of intentions. I know now that this isn’t always true (that’s the being honest part!). They know who they are and I know who they are and yet, cyberspace seems to give just the right amount of perceived anonymity to make the release of their toxic energy more acceptable.
So I’m choosing to take the first step in protecting my blog the same way I am determined to protect my heart. I’m not sure if the simple step will work but I have to believe in the goodness of humanity enough to believe that not every element of our lives need to be password protected.
So here we go! I’m quite certain that it’s not what Proverbs had in mind when it said “guard your heart” but I’m pretty sure that the writer of Proverbs didn’t have to deal with the information super highway either!
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