“Put everything you have into the care of your heart, for it determines what our life amounts to.”
Dallas Willard
During times like these, many emotions are floating around. We feel anger, grief, fear, disappointment, frustration, and sadness. Anger and frustration are a result of blocked goals: not being able to do what you want or need to do. The loss of normalcy and the loss of events such as seniors not being with their classmates their final year of high school are disappointments which need to be grieved. The unknown is scary and breeds insecurity. In times like these, give yourself permission to feel.
Proverbs 4:23 directs us to take care of our emotional being. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” We’re to diligently watch over our hearts because it influences the rest of our lives. For the most part, our culture before the Coronavirus was busy, moving at a fast speed. Our busyness either numbs our pain so we don’t feel or we don’t realize the pain is there. We’re so occupied there’s no time to assess our internal heart temperature. We push down our feelings within the deepest parts of our hearts or we sweep our emotions under the rug so they can’t be seen.
Healing comes when we deal with our painful emotions. Sometimes, instead of trying to fix things to make them better, we need to first feel them so they can be restored. Maybe God is stilling us and slowing down our pace so we can feel and deal with our pain inside. This is an ideal time to process our hearts. We need to feel our pain, put words to describe the hurt, and respond by letting it go through pouring out our hearts to God.
In times like these, we need to starve our fear and feed our faith. We do this by carefully choosing what we watch, listen to, and read. Stay informed of the facts, but stay away from those who promote fear in your heart. Allow God’s perfect love to cast out fear (I John 4:18).
Next week I’ll give practical steps to help you thrive and not just survive during this time. Meanwhile, do take care of your heart and give yourself permission to feel.
“Let us learn to cast our hearts into God.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Relevant Reflections:
What emotions are you experiencing in times like these?
Take time to pour out your heart to God.