They say our hearts are about the size of our fists. Looking down at my fist, I realize how small a heart can be and yet it is vital to life, to being alive.
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”
(Proverbs 4:23, NASB)
In another version, the heart is called the “wellspring of life” meaning it is the starting point of everything else in life. Our hearts are the source of all our creativity, courage, and conviction.
All that we are is residing right there in something as small as our fist.
In order to make a fist, we must clench our hand tightly closed. Positioned as such, nothing can either enter or leave my fist. We are stuck with what is enclosed in the center of our fist.
How often do we live with our fists clenched? We hold onto insecurity, anger, jealousy and resentment.
Yet Christ calls us to live another way – open hands. Open hearts.
It is then our hearts can be filled with gratitude …
Gratitude >> “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” (as per dictionary.com)
Interestingly, it has nothing to do with what one possesses or not. It is an appreciation, an expression for kindness received. Our God is kind to us each day – with each breath we take in, the sun rising, the wind we can feel on our face, the comforting sound of rain.
“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith,
just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”
(Colossians 2:7, NASB)
Our hearts may be small
but may they be large on gratitude.
REFLECTION:
What are you grateful for today?
Photo by Annemarie Grudën on Unsplash
Love this Joanne! Today I am grateful for time with my husband over the weekend. ♥ On a side note, when my grandson had open heart surgery at one month old, I was in absolute shock at how they could operate on a heart the size of a newborn's fist! Amazing!
ReplyDeleteA long-time friend of mine calls that open-handed living - keeping our hearts open and reaching out. Bless you for the reminder to make sure my heart is recalibrate my figurative heart. Clinching my fist is not comfortable - closing that fist up tight - it physically hurts - but when I think of a heart closed up and fisted - I don't want to live that way. It sounds miserly.
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