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Scripture for the day: Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Thought for the day: There he is, a funny-looking, wrinkled, big-eyed creature waddling about the movie screen, trying to find a connection with “home” and warming the hearts of millions in the process.  We all know him as ET, the loveable little alien who makes a real connection with a small boy, Eliot, and only wants to phone home so his friends can come and get him. As we watched, we followed the adventures of Eliot and ET and the bond they had.  Do you remember the scene where ET reaches out his long boney finger to touch the earth boy and, as they got closer, his finger and a spot over his heart begins to glow?  Someone even wrote a song about it.  I think it was called “Turn on Your Heart Light” and sung by Neil Diamond.  When that scene was shown all you could hear throughout the theatre was a chorus of Oooh’s and Aaah’s and I’m sure there was a tear in a lot of eyes.
 Overall, ET was a delightful film about bonding and making a real connection that has become a classic (by the way, it’s a bit scary when I realize that a film I saw as an adult is now considered a “classic”).  But here’s the point: there’s some real wisdom in considering our “heart light.”  When it glows, when it begins to shine, what does it reveal?
 The Bible speaks of the heart in many places (771 actually) and for a variety of reasons.  Jesus particularly had a lot to say about the heart and the importance of the heart in our walk with the Father.  The heart is seen as the center of our being, the place where emotions, mental processes and circumstances all come together and decisions, intentions and attitudes are developed.  Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”  He also said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  So the question for us becomes this: which do you want for yourself?  Someone once said, “Be sure your sins will find you out.”  But the truth is that our hearts will always betray us.  whatever is in our hearts will, at some time, be displayed for all the world to see.  When you “turn on your heart light” what will be illuminated?
 Generally speaking, you can’t tell what a sponge has been used to clean if it’s just sitting on the counter.  Most sponges look pretty much the same whether they have water or motor oil in them (unless they’re so full they can’t contain it all).  But pick up a sponge that’s been lying on the counter for some time and squeeze it.  The moment you do you will discover a lot about how it’s been used, what’s in it, and what will come out.  If someone used that sponge to clean the garage, there’s a good chance motor oil will appear at the edges as you squeeze.  If that sponge has been used to wipe up a spilled cup of coffee, guess what will come out on the counter when pressure is applied.  Our hearts are much the same as that sponge.  Whatever has been put in there will remain and when we’re squeezed by the pressures of life – and we all will be – that is what will come out.  
 Solomon told his readers to “put away perversity, keep away from corrupt talk, look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you, make level paths for your feet, and do not swerve either to the right or to the left.”  But above all, he encouraged all who would listen to “guard your heart,” for he knew that without a heart that was right all those other bits of advice would eventually go unheeded.
 When your “heart light” is on, what do people see?  When you’re squeezed like a sponge by the circumstances of life, what comes out?  Put in Jesus and Jesus is what people will see.
Now go take on your world.  -  Bill