Today is the last few verses of Proverbs 4, where the attention turns to a completely separate idea (in my mind), and that I really wanted to spend a day on, and that is the heart.  Right there in verses 20-27 the author gets at an idea that is so powerful, and specifically in verse 23:

Here are a few different translations of this same verse:

ESV: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

NLT Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

KJV Keep they heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.

HCSB Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.

So, here is why I go into that...looking at various translations is one of the best ways we (as non-language-natives) can understand what is being communicated in these writings.  I hear people picking on various translations of the Bible and feeling like one is ‘better’ than another, and I find that to be a comical discussion...each one has an angle it is bringing to the scripture reading process.  I am thankful we have them all; it is in comparison that we can often unlock something we can use.  Here, I see a couple of words that seem to be used interchangeably; ‘keep’ and ‘guard’, ‘above all else’ and ‘with diligence’, and ‘determines the course of your life’ vs. ‘sources/springs of life’.

Here is what all of that means to me...the condition of our heart in some way directs how our life turns out.  I can tell the author really believed that and that he really felt that our hearts should be monitored actively.

So, how is your heart?  How are you doing?  How are those around you doing?  Are you happy?  Really?  Why or why not?  What is keeping you from it?  What is the constant source of struggle for you?  We are taught that life and wisdom are paths down which we should journey...what is in the way of your path towards happiness that you just haven’t stopped to notice and to remove?

For me, I think a big thing is margin...I have sucked all of the margin out of my life by filling every minute of every day with intentionality and to do items.  I haven’t balanced the flow of work and play, the ups and downs of intensity and relaxation.  As such, I carry an intensity into every area of life that isn’t equally valuable in each area...I can’t love my family as well as possible with intensity...that’s not the environment for intensity.  Today I will pray for wisdom on this topic; as I plan for 2021 this week and next, it will be something important for me to bring to that planning, how to free myself from some of that intense focus and add margin to my life so I can be a better version of me for the people closest to me.  I love my wife and my kids so much, and they just aren’t getting the best of me I don’t think...and that’s because I haven’t paid close enough attention to my heart as the writer here in Proverbs guides...and it is time to remedy that for sure!