Heart Health

"A heart at peace gives life to the body."
-Proverbs 14:30a


I like to think our hearts are much like bookshelves.  We store a lot in them.  We pick and choose our emotions according to our moods.  We allow distractions like busyness to keep us from taking time to keep order in our hearts.  We become frustrated easily because we can't find what we are looking for when we need it, but when we do find the one, then we have revived hope.

When I moved to a new school, my new classroom lacked luster and order, much like my heart at times.  I took the blah metal shelves and added color to them by removing all the shelving and sticking on green patterned contact paper on the back of the shelves.  Then, I placed the shelves back in at different heights.  Next, I categorized all my books by genre so that my students would easily find books they might like based on the genre that they're most drawn to.  I put these books into colorful crates that I found at Big Lots and attached laminated genre labels to each crate.  Once I had these shelves complete, I felt more motivated to bring more color and order to the rest of my classroom.  I love how a little bit of organization can give us a whole lot of peace of mind.

Aren't are hearts similar?  Once we bring order back to our hearts and fill them with the luster of God's love, we are revitalized and more motivated to bring color and order to the rest of our lives.  The beauty is, though, that we don't have to do the organizing on our own.  God is there and willing to lend us a hand.  His grace sufficiently brings us to a place of peace.  He takes our messes and makes them into masterpieces.  He tenderly cares for each one of our hearts.  All we have to do is let Him.