When did we ever start believing that life is about doing things on the outside while neglecting the person we are being on the inside? Is it because looking within often times comes with pain and discomfort?
When we become overwhelmed, it is usually and in most cases nothing more than our hearts screaming for us to pause the craziness and take time to reflect on everything we seem to be swallowing without chewing.
We try to do too much and neglect ourself along the way.
How can you truly enjoy any "meal" life offers us much less the “gourmet” moments that would be succulent if we only took the time to appreciate them as such.
We are overstimulated to say the very least, and overstimulation is currently a disease in our culture.
Like children not being parented and given boundaries in which to live within, we are given over to what we want in the moment. If I want coffee, I drive to a coffee shop and grab some. When I want to vegetate and not think about anything, I head into a zombie-like state watching hours of TV shows or a movie.
When I don’t want to feel something negative, I might go do something to take my mind off of it instead of taking the time to slow down and reflect.
When I am feeling distant from God, I may put on some worship music or listen to a message or read a book or an online article somewhere.
What is the problem with all of the above?
Nothing is really wrong with any of those things in and of themselves except what they are keeping me from.
What ends up becoming a problem is nothing from that list of things I want to do has to do with me.
They are all outside sources keeping my focus on the outside of who I am inside.
That’s a huge problem considering it is from the inside in which I am living life from and doing those things from . . .
It is from within myself, my heart and my mind that everything flows from, and when I don't feel right inside, why would I think I could actually make a difference doing something on the outside of me?
All that we do we do starts from within us and makes its way out.
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
-Jesus
What would make Jesus say something so strongly? Is it safe to say that it bothered our Savior much more to know where their hearts actually were on the inside rather than what was coming from their lives on the outside?
It isn't like God cares more about one or the other . . . what's inside and what is on the outside, but like directing where a boat is headed, it takes moving the rudder first before it can actually turn and change course.
Our hearts are much like a rudder on a boat.
I think sometimes the problem is we get so caught up in living life on that boat, we begin to neglect where we are actually heading.
Even though the ones referred to in that scripture as “people” apparently thinking otherwise, they clearly were only fooling themselves into believing that their hearts were closer to God than they actually were.
Now lets exchange the word “people” for me and you.
We treat our hearts as if they are a means to an end and we are shocked when God has to stop us and say, “You’ve drifted away from me . . . even though you haven't paid attention to where you are.”
Let's look at that word "paying" attention to something . . .
Does that mean that it actually comes at a price to give attention to our hearts?
Yes.
It is absolutely work to take the time to stop and reflect and give attention to the rudder that is our hearts directing where our lives, the boat, is heading.
Compound that neglect with each day’s experiences and the vast multitude of memories that are made each minute and it’s no wonder why we feel overwhelmed and stressed and stretched so thin so often.
It is also no wonder we can't handle certain negative parts of our lives that is just a part of it yet we treat these dark places like we would avoid a long line at a them park.
When did we ever start believing that life is about doing things on the outside while neglecting the person we are being on the inside? Is it because looking within often times comes with pain and discomfort?
Do we just adjust and become “nice” enough to pass under the radar of what is expected in our social circles, all the while becoming rather efficient runners from all that is painful?
Have we become experts in avoiding ourselves because of this?
Constantly doing things is a great way to keep from yourself for sure. It is mostly because when we do things, it helps to keep our attention off of ourselves.
What’s funny about that is, like a child thinking they are hiding when they cover their eyes with their hands, we are attempting to fool ourselves into thinking that if we are feeling good about what we are doing, we must be good.
So we reach for “good” things . . . unintentionally trying to feel good about ourselves.
The problem is what if things inside of you aren't so "good"?
Our hearts cannot be convinced we are fine when we deeply aren't, although they can be fooled temporarily.
And it is within those temporary moments in which we may be living . . . constantly, from one to the next.
It is those seemingly wonderful moments that help keep us from facing some more unpleasant things inside of us.
That’s why our tendency is to stay moving, like a fish needing to breath oxygen from its gills.
The thing is, we aren’t fish obviously.
We are human beings with hearts exploding with passion and bursting with curiosity and life.
With all of that though inevitably comes pain. It isn't always pain and there are plenty of moments that we need to process that are joyful and full of positive thoughts and feelings, yet they still need to be properly chewed.
We were meant to interact with the world and those around us, not to live for interactions and our surroundings but how they effect us.
Without processing all that we do, we end up being cheated from what we were meant to fully experience from our life . . . the people God actually intended for us to be.
We were meant to live as a being doing, not as a doing being.
The hard part is it is really just more fun usually to do do do . . . and it is much easier to just survive rather than deepening who we are being along the way, and that only comes with again, taking the time to process our hearts properly.
I have noticed I can get so caught up in the business inside of a day full of doing this and doing that, yet, at the end of it, I feel I have so many moments I experienced that I never really processed through fully.
Yet, I can go the next day as if nothing too important happened.
If I do that, I would be backed up with all I felt and thought about each and every moment.
Clearly I couldn’t process it all even if I wanted to, but just as clearly, we don’t have a problem with processing too much too often.
I would love to meet someone who is just obsessed with processing their experiences each day, each week, each month.
It just doesn’t happen.
Our tendency is to just “just keep on trucking” and rushing through each day in a hurricane-like blur.
So here we are, with two options.
First, we can just keep living in a rampage of doing this and doing that, never really taking the time to reflect and process our hearts with God.
The outcome from that is simply us learning the hard way. We may go years until we finally realize that our hearts are everything in this life and everything to God.
Or, there is another option.
We can begin to take small steps towards valuing our hearts more than just what gives us life inside but opening them to God and allowing Him to help guide us through the uncharted waters of our souls.
He showed me years ago the difference it made in me to spend time with Him, processing my own heart as well as learning more of His.
I will admittedly say that I have slowly strayed from seeing the incredible value on not neglecting my heart.
Choosing this means not choosing other things, and that's where it gets hard. This is where it really is a sacrifice and a payment. It is investing in the rudder of your ship . . . the place in which God dwells and moves through you into the world around you.
The rewarding part is God always meets you there. Because He lives inside of our hearts and who we are, when we give our hearts (His dwelling place) attention, we give Him attention.
To be human means that we will always do things, but let us not neglect the life we were intended to live as a being doing . . . to live first from who we are and letting that determine what we do.
