A heart condition

I love cats! There, I said it and I am not ashamed. If I am being honest, I did not always feel that way. I used to have a negative spot in my heart for cats. Why, I am not sure. It could be the cat box smells. I still dislike that part, but our cats have won me over. My heart has changed; I love our cats.

I also used to dislike brussels sprouts, asparagus and broccoli. I would avoid these at all costs. But then something happened. I tried some that had been cooked differently. My heart changed. I actually love these vegetables now when cooked properly. And my mind has changed to eat healthier, and that helps too.

So why am I telling you about stuff I disliked at one time and now shifted my process to liking? Well, because recently my heart has changed in other ways as well, drastically. I will not go into the details of the what and where, but I am seeing things a little differently now. Especially when it comes to people. I had a heart condition. It needed fixing and it happened.

I did not consider myself a bad person. As a matter of fact, I thought I was pretty good. But there was an issue that got pointed out to me recently. Not in a particular situation either. My heart just kind of evolved or woke up to the way it was intended to be. Some people might have called it something like being judgmental or hypocritical. But there were just people that rubbed me the wrong way, or I just did not like the way they treated me or others and I would put them in a category in my mind of not needing my time or attention. Even if I saw them hurting, I would just ignore the situation and move on. So, what happened? I will tell you a bit.

As I was visiting with someone the other day, in the middle of the conversation, I realized the pain they were in. Later it happened again as someone I trusted and admired told me about the pain they were in also. I started questioning my motives. This was not a physical pain, but a heart pain. I started examining my own heart. It was not long afterward that there was a change in my heart for all around me. It took an eye-opening experience for me to realize the conditions around my own heart and others people’s. Our hearts are not always on display for all to see. We hide our true intentions.

I remembered reading in Jeremiah 1:5 that we were known to God before we were in our mother’s womb. Then in Hebrews it says many times to not harden our hearts. But in Hebrews still it mentions a new covenant and God will write his words on our hearts. I pictured God etching His love for us on our hearts, this same love we are to show those around us. We need to start looking past a person’s situation and focus on their destination. Start loving others like we were first loved. Start seeing others how God sees them. Looking past the grim and muck that may get stuck on us in this messy world and look into the hearts that were created by a loving God. We may not understand everything we see but that is OK too. We don’t have to, in order to look beyond the circumstances and see the roots of what is really going on.

We all have heart conditions. I am working on mine and seeing new things daily. I challenge you to examine yours too, and let those words that God etched in your heart come to the surface. A new heart condition is just below the surface.