Above all else guard your heart,
For everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23

Every time I go to the hospital for my post transplant follow-up checkups, they check my weight and take my blood pressure, oxygen level and pulse. Then they take 3-11 vials of blood to run scores of tests. They listen to my breathing and check my heart. They often know more about what is going on inside my body than I do.

But as important as all these tests are, there is another test that we should check throughout each day: what is the condition of my spiritual heart? Am I hopeful, joyful? Or are my thoughts frequently marked by fear and negativity? Does my heart reflect grace or irritability? I’ve found my heart quite unguarded this past week. Not the whole time but enough to cause problems. You know the feeling: growing pressures and troubles mount on top of each other without relief. Thoughts focus on managing or succumbing to the problems. The solution: guard your heart. Cultivate increasing awareness of God’s grace and joy in the midst of the battle. Maybe you can do this once a day. I know I have to keep this in check throughout the day, many times.

Light comes from light. It never comes from the darkness of an unguarded heart.