Above All Else
After a couple of winters with little snow, this one seems to be stacking up. The ski resorts and snow plow drivers are loving it. Those little white things that come fluttering down, some call snowflakes and some call pennies from heaven. And the people that are constantly fighting the snow to get anything done are probably calling it lots of other flavorful things.
Love it or hate it, I've found myself on both sides of the fence, mostly dependent on my relationship to it. As a kid, like most kids, I just loved playing in it. Sledding, building forts and igloos, digging tunnels and especially snow caves into the sides of the drifts that formed around the old chicken house up in the pasture. As I got older and took on more responsibilities like plowing the snow over on the other farm (which required a half mile drive on a tractor without a cab in the windiest part of Garrett County) along with feeding the heifers and keeping the silo unloaders from freezing up, the love turned to hate. But then I discovered skiing, and between that and skating and hockey, I learned that a bad day could turn into a good day really quickly, all dependent on what you were doing in the snow. Now that I'm older, it can still feel that way. When it seems to take all of my time to shovel snow or fix the snow blower, it's a real downer. But if it's spending an hour cross-country skiing with Jenelle, walking in the woods alone and looking at all of the wildlife tracks, or just plopping down on my back in the snow on a cold night with the stars and moon lighting up the sky, I walk away from those things feeling so alive and full of joy! I can't really explain it.
This past week my thoughts have been circling around the old proverb that goes something like this, “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”. I'm sure there's more than one way to interpret that verse, but for me I found myself focusing on the wellspring part.
What is a wellspring? Webster's calls it the source of a spring, stream, or river, or a continuous supply that never seems to run out. My mind goes to the Savage River watershed. Keeping tabs on the upstream parts so that there aren't a bunch of pollutants getting into the reservoir is what makes the river below the dam such a great fishing spot. And the fact that the flow is controlled means that there is water there all the time and the fish downstream can grow into sizable trophy fish.
Our hearts are like that. Obviously God is the one that gives us joy. But since the proverb says that we should guard our hearts, it sounds like we have some of that responsibility as well. I don't think it means putting our hearts in a box and keeping everything to ourselves. After all, a spring that doesn't have water flowing from it is stagnant and has no life coming out of it. And so we need to let it flow, wearing our hearts on our sleeves, so to speak. If we feel too broken or hurt to let the good things out, or if we feel like there’s no good inside, then we should be more intentional with what we're putting in it. We all have hearts with cracks and hurts, and maybe yours are deeper than mine, but we can keep flushing them out by putting good things in and letting God heal them in his own time. Doing that often takes work on our part. Work equals intentional effort. It's often easier to just sit and not take that step that you know you need to take. But if we intentionally feed the heart with good things, it can be rewarding in the end.
Last Saturday Jenelle and I were running the little art store in Davis, WV. It's an artisan co-op that we're a part of. There are twenty seven different artists that share a store and so we each take a couple of days out of the year to work it, which basically allows us all to have a main street store without having to man it 24/7 all by ourselves. It was dumping down the snow all day and so it felt like I shoveled a ton of snow away from the front of the store where the plow left it. I really didn't mind it. Davis is a small adventure sports type of town with two ski resorts close by. It's always fun to talk to the different people that stop by. Almost all of them have the adventuresome spirit and are there because they ski, bike or backpack. And because of the wilderness around there, sometimes hunters and fishermen stop by as well. In all honesty, I love striking up a conversation with almost everyone that comes in. But talking to people all day leaves me feeling exhausted. Shoveling snow gives me the break that I need. Being a self proclaimed introvert, I get my energy from spending time alone, especially outside, and so by the end of the day I was ready to get home and just sit or do something less interactive.
On the way home we got a text from some friends asking if we would go cross-country skiing with them at New Germany State Park. They had some of the trails illuminated with candles/tea lights for a night ski. I wanted to go home and just sit but I knew what my heart really needed was some joy dumped into it. And so we skied. There weren't many people there and the night was perfect. The couple we were with were newbies and so it was very low key. Even though it was cloudy the moon was bright enough to make the snow have a low glow to it and we didn't need our headlamps. The snow on the hemlocks was just beautiful! We didn't spend a lot of time there, but when we left I was feeling recharged and my heart was overflowing with joy! I'm not sure what went in, but I'm sure it didn't leave room for the bad stuff. And hopefully what trickles out is good for whoever else is downstream.
I share this little story to ask, how are you keeping your own spring? Its not always easy, but it’s worth it!
I hope that you make that a priority!
