A Heart Alignment

April is over.  Whew! 

Now it is May. But is May any less busy??

I know “busyness” may be seasonal; but if this is your reality, I am over here sharing your wide-eyed look (and possibly the paper bag in case of hyperventilation) as you consult this week’s pages of the planner lying on the kitchen counter. 

I am not an anxious person by nature and often share the motto that I try to “project calm, while freaking out on the inside” in stressful situations; but this past month, I have found myself on several occasions literally closing my eyes and stopping to take deep breaths as I have been overwhelmed with activities, tasks and demands. And sometimes I even audibly verbalize, “just take a deep breath”. Why do I bring this up? Well, we all have a “default mechanism” that we turn to during times of stress. You know, the thing that we instinctively do or say that requires no conscious thought on our part.

In Matthew 15 Jesus is involved in addressing a criticism that the Pharisees levied against Him and His disciples; and in the course of that rebuttal Jesus says, (17) Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Since our default mechanism originates in the heart, I need to make sure I am doing what I can to orient my heart toward His. 

My thoughts immediately turn to the man who is described as being one after “God’s own heart” and I discovered through a quick search that he references the heart about 134 times (in the ESV) throughout the book of Psalms. I want to be like David. He certainly wasn’t perfect; but he kept bringing his heart back into alignment with the heart of God. I want to pray with all of my being, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

Life is full of challenges and I do not always react in the ways that best honor God. But I want to strive for a God-oriented heart; even (or maybe especially) during times when the day’s activities seem to outnumber the hours in the day. In addition to setting boundaries, saying “no” to some things and not feeling pressured to be and do everything, I want to have a God-oriented heart as my default setting. After all, since we are made in His image- shouldn’t His heart be what my heart seeks to be? 

I hope we can find strength and encouragement together as we echo David’s words, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14).

Take a deep breath and aim to align your heart with His.

Kristi Burleson kburleson@fhu.edu, Henderson, TN