Are you always ‘acting’ negatively: jealous of others, envious, harbouring bad thoughts, conspiring, gossiping, seeking revenge, angry, seeking the downfall of others, lusting, etc? Then this message is for you! Do you not realise that the heart (the centre of human person) is like a ‘fertile soil’ on which any ‘seed’ wether of ‘plant or weed’ can thrive? That it is in the heart that good and bad information are first imputed, processed and executed before acting? Don’t you realise that your actions are products of the information you feed into the heart? If you’re in doubt read slowly…
Lk. 2:46-48 & 51
…Three days later, they found him [Jesus] in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother [Mary] said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’ ‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant…His mother [Mary] stored up all these things in her heart.
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
1. The story above reflects the scenario when Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the Temple. We are told at the end of the search they found the little boy Jesus in a mysterious setting: after 3 days, among elders and doctors, asking intelligent questions and speaking with wisdom; and then his ‘mysterious’ reply to his mother’s valid question! Hmmm!
2. And Mary PONDERED ‘EVERYTHING’- these mysteries which are nothing but God’s Word (filled with wisdom and knowledge, yet mysterious) in her heart! No wonder she bears fruits of holiness and righteousness! Fruits planted by the Divine Word (Jesus) in her Heart. Fruits Elizabeth experienced and prophesied! (Lk 1:42). Fruits another woman experienced and blessed her- (Mary) the fertile ground that nourished it to maturity! And Jesus himself would explain how these fruits are made possible in anyone as it happened in the life of his mother: “blessed are they who hear the Word of God and obey it.” (C.f Lk 11:27-28).
3. When you always think of/ponder/reflect deeply in your heart on good things or on good information then your heart processes and executes good things as well; your actions can’t go contrary, they must surely be good as well! Therefore, mind the contents or information you allow into your heart, they have a way of influencing your actions. Remember Jesus says it is what comes out of a man- the heart of man- that defiles him (Matt 15:18).
TASK: What is/are your plan(s) for today or for the week? Evaluate them now: Do they spring from Love, the Word of God, or are they Holy?
Pray Psalm 139 now, asking God to control the impulses of your heart.
