Above All Else.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:36

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

I have been wandering through conversations with my friends and roommates and loved ones, my "Verizon Network" as they called and labeled themselves today... these people who come around me and march with me and carry me, in hoards. And today, in conversations, one such love shared this phrase:

"You need to guard your heart. You need to step back. You need to protect yourself."

And immediately it made my mind jump to this verse in Proverbs that I have stamped on myself. It's always been in the context of dating and life with men and marriage. But today it yielded different terms.

As I Bible Gatewayed it, it came up with two identical word passages. And it struck me:

One: the first passage greets the reader with the wisdom to guard oneself. To take care to stand up and fight for oneself. To put up hedges, fence in space and privacy of land and life in order to protect the self from destruction, from the forces around or those that invade the self to perverse the actual self. It is a self-guard, a self-protection, a self-way of building and creating walls for the health of the body, the soul, the mind (Proverbs 4:20:23).

Two: the other passage carrys to the reader the Holy Spirit sword. It comes with barrings and standings and metal-clad armor. It is the armor of Christ, not of human will or condensed by human thought or emotion or ability, but it is the peace of GOD which transcends understanding. And it is GOD who guards the hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. It is GOD who comes and shelters and protects and shields and guards and causes rifts and hedges. It is GOD who becomes the battle shield and tender warrior. It is not of man or self-will, but of God.

As these two verses take place and root in my self, as they are kept within my site and heart (as instructed in Proverbs 4:21), it is these two verses which give me peace and strength. It is my self as a guard - of emotion, of removing myself from words or places or relationships which clamor stumbling or propel the loosing site (Prov 4:25-27). It is instead embossing within me truth and concern of human will and righteousness and justice. It is instead coming and realizing and allowing and opening my love and life to my "Verizon Network", my fellow warriors of community, of bond, of strength, of shield.

And it is the recognizing of the will of the Holy Spirit who also accompanies me, who strengthens me, who fights for and through and in me. It is His strength, His sword, His protection, His words, His leanings which give me protection. It is not just of self-strength or will, but the will and strength of the Holy Spirit, given to me and living with in me.

I know the Holy Spirit. I feel the Holy Spirit. I am the embodiment of the Holy Spirit.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

And I will, above all else, today, guard and let be guarded of my heart.

For in it, I am given and am living in the peace of Christ, which transcends all understanding, and brings about the wellspring of life.