I recently did a little home improvement project, where we (Jamie C. and myself - THANKS Jamie!) created a goldfish pond in the courtyard next to my kitchen (which is off to the right as you're looking at this picture). I love it. I'm the first one up every morning. I let the dog out, then I feed the fish. It's nice. It's still dark, the lights are still on in the pond, and it's a neat little quiet time for me.
On the down side, I have two trees that loom overhead, and with trees comes fallen leaves. No big deal right? Well, when we first built the pond, I was quite studious about getting the leaves out. Needless to say, I slacked off a little, and before long, my pond was all green and murky, long past the "green water" phase that comes with having a new pond.
This past Monday, I cleaned out the pond. I drained it, then proceeded to retrieve enough leaves to fill a plastic grocery bag. I made a new pledge to keep it clean this time around, and hopefully, I will.
As I was fetching out leaves last night, I started thinking about the human heart, and how many times we just let stuff pile up, and we only deal with it after it's become all ugly and murky. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why not take care of it while it's still manageable, without having to go back and make more work for ourselves? Why can't we take every little effort to keep our hearts pure?
Now that my pond is clean again and I can see the bottom (and my six goldfish and two algae eaters) again, the initial joy is back, and I LOVE the way it looks, especially when the lights are on. The whole area is much brighter now.
I want my heart to be that way also.
1 comment:
"Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart..." (Ps. 24:3-4) Thanks for the challenge, Richard. It's easy to let the worldliness pile up and edge out the Word in my heart. I want to stay on top of keeping the pond scum out! ~Kari
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