Christian Living

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There are four kinds of hearts…
Only four that respond
to God’s touch,
warmth
and nurturing

There is the hard heart…
A.k.a. a rebellious
or bitter heart
Often a heart that only knows religion
So that heart is not even glancing God’s way
It is as cold
and cranky as concrete
It is driven into oblivion
It is the empty atheist

The there is the shallow heart
It is not always easy to detect
It can come across as perfect
And for a time it appears confident,
in charge,
and in the know about God
You know it by its dry, formal prayer
It can teach from a book
that is already prepared
It can seem like it doesn’t have a care
But when the heat comes
When the test comes
When the mess comes
it cowers
It may have once had its moment
as a towering flower
But it shriveled up
and has turned dry
It now hides and runs for cover
It was only a visitor, never a lover

Then there is the weedy heart
A worldly-worried heart
So much non-God has entered this heart
that is has little time to
be a great garden
let alone a good garden
let a lone an edible garden
Its tomato plants are filled
with worms and bugs
It is moved by anger
not by love
Nobody wants to eat from it
But from a distance it looks like
much is happening
Up close it is rotten
In the end it will be forgotten

Then there is the good heart
The pretty heart,
the soft heart
The undisturbed, fruitful heart
This garden has a fountain in the center
birds and butterflies
want to enter
This garden was cultivated and designed
by the hand, heart
and mind of God
When you find it,
you want to spend some time
soaking it all in.

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