Yesterday as I was driving to work, I was suddenly overcome with a bad case of nausea and dizziness. At first I thought it was from the two cups of coffee that I drank on an empty stomach. Surely some yogurt would help. But as the day progressed, I got the strangest sensation in my neck and behind my ears – a weakness that made my head feel too heavy to hold up. And then the chills and the sweats. Shaking cold in the middle of a ninety degree day. No amount of yogurt was going to make this go away. I had the flu.
Even though the signs and symptoms were there, it took me a while to realize that my nausea and dizziness weren’t just a quick fix. I wanted to believe that if I could just get something in my stomach, everything would be okay. Not so much.
Late yesterday afternoon, a woman came into Cotton Kloset and overheard that I was the stager for the store. She approached me and asked me (and Raandi) to come and stage her home before it goes on the market on Monday. We scheduled a time for today and had the details all worked out. And then she called me. Her husband had said that what they first needed to do was to thoroughly clean before we came in to rearrange and beautify their home. She was putting the cart before the horse, as her husband put it. The basic problem needed to be dealt with before the surface project could be done effectively. Good call.
In both scenarios, there was a desire to fix something. To make it “all better”. But the real problems weren’t my empty stomach or a need to shift furniture around. It was something deeper.
How many times do we try to change our behavior, our attitudes, our habits, without dealing with what really needs to be changed – our hearts? We tend to think that if we just DO the right things or SAY the right things or FORCE ourselves to act a certain way, then things will be all right. We end up getting ourselves caught in the trap of the external life but inside we are exhausted and dying. The outer work of “trying harder” runs out of steam quickly because there is no inner source of energy to sustain it.
But what if we focused first on the source of who we are at our core? What if we took a look at our hearts? Are they burning with passion for Jesus and for others? Do we long to serve because we want to, not out of obligation? Do we reach out to others because it’s second nature instead of thinking we have to? Do we use words that encourage and lift up because it’s what automatically flows out of our hearts rather than biting and holding our tongues from saying what we really want to say?
The bible tells us that the heart is “the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). The definition of wellspring is “source of continual or abundant supply” and “an original and bountiful source of something”. It’s where everything we do and think and say originates. If that supply is drained or dirty or stale, it’s going to show it what our lives do or don’t produce.
The bible also tells us that no matter how many good things I do, if the source isn’t love, it doesn’t mean anything. Look at 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
It goes on to tell us the great news, though, in verse 4 – Love never fails. It’s never going to run out. It’s endless. So if my heart, my wellspring, is filled with LOVE, I will have a source that will never fail or run dry. And why is that? Because God is love (1 john 4:8). God Himself is the source that can fill our wellspring, that produces the love that knows no end, that can freely flow out of our lives into the lives of others. That doesn’t require trying harder and forcing ourselves to do the right thing. It becomes so much a part of us that we can’t help but pass it on to others because there’s too much for us to keep to ourselves. John 7:38 – Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'” Flowing, not forcing. Producing, not pushing.
May Jesus fill your heart to overflowing today….and may you not be able to help passing it on…
