Proverbs 4 vs. 23 (BSB)
Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
While our feelings are mighty, they can be deceitful at times, but knowledge has a way of illuminating places that have often been shrouded in darkness and ignorance, thus allowing us to make decisions with clarity and confidence, decisions that otherwise may have lead to a poor outcome had we not known.
How you interact with someone has a lot to do with what you feel that person thinks of you, have you ever seen two people whispering and think they are talking about you? Alternatively, have you ever been in a room with someone quiet? So, because of this, you form the false opinion that they don’t like you and because you feel this way you begin to interact with that person cruelly, using harsh tones and defensive body language. The person who is on the receiving end of your behavior has no idea that you have come to this conclusion about them, all they see is a rude person, and when they respond to your rudeness with frustration, you operating out of the false belief that they don’t like you. Further, the deception that your opinion of them was correct when, in truth, it was your evil imaginings that created the entire scenario. The heart can be very deceitful, and if all your decisions are made based on how you feel, without a thorough vetting, you will spend your life going from one reactionary crisis to the next. Fresh ideas and dreams become constricted because of the narrowing that fear and paranoia cause, love and compassion are blocked by the plaques of selfishness and conceit. The only thing a heart can do under these severe conditions fails.
Take inventory of your life, be honest with yourself, the recurring issue that you continuously deal with, year after year with all those you encounter really is not their issue. It’s yours. May you submit to the open-heart surgery that only the great physician can offer and emerge whole and healed.