A Heart That Was Given to You

Lord, please give me a thoughtful and thankful heart.

When seeing the needs of others, let me never depart

From the compassion You showed while here on earth.

Feeling someone else’s pain is a comparison well worth

Moving beyond the realm of self and daring to reach out

To the needs of others, knowing that their pain cries out

To be ministered to, and their thoughts to be listened to.

Living just for myself is not what you taught ME to do.

I question myself, when I walk by a friend at our church,

Asking if I just rushed right past them on the way to search

Out a deadline, for some activity, or for what or, for where?

Did I not see their face, excuse myself as “No time to share”.

Did I withdraw from them because of too much I had to do

No time to listen, time to just open my heart to someone new?

There is a time when shame ends with me who is to  blame.

There is a time when my confession to God is clearly plain.

There is a way the Spirit speaks to me that makes me weep.

For He shows me oh so clearly I need to bend and still seek.

His will and His way in my life that causes me to slow down.

To listen to Him first and take the time to really slow down.

There is more to this Christian life than chasing each activity.

Jesus took time to rest and pray, not chasing each proclivity.

I gave my heart to You so that Your Spirit could lead my way.

That old self wars within me and I sorely need to kneel and pray

Will this struggle last until heaven, or will adversity leach it out?

I pray that the “thoughtful me”, that is born of You, will win out.

I see the inequality within me that is surely not of Your design.

I will bend to Your Holy Spirit’s leading and learn to re-align.

My love for others will supersede any “lists” or “needs to do”.

What will be left within my heart is the love of the lost like You.

For I cannot move ahead without Your Spirit daily guiding me

Until I reach the final days here on this earth and am finally free.

                       

• Philippians 4:5 ~ Let everyone see that you are considerate in all that you do.
• Proverbs 11:13 ~ A trustworthy man keeps a secret.
• Romans 8:37 ~ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. For I am convinced that neither nor death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• James 1:22 ~ Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself goes way and immediately forgets what he looks like.