{give & receive}

It’s that time of year to give give give. Give thanks at Thanksgiving. Give gifts at Christmas time. Give your time to family and friends around Christmas & New Years. But through all this giving do not forget to receive. Receive the love and gifts from your family & receive the thanks that people give you.

Receiving is one of the harder things for me to accept in life. It is hard to accept complements from people, hard to receive gifts when I do not have one to give in return, & hard to receive help from people when I can “do it on my own”.

I just finished a book called “You’re Already Amazing” by Holley Gerth {that I would suggest to anyone – mostly girls}. Through reading that book I came up with 3 different things that give advice on how to make receiving a little easier:

1.    Receiving is risky – in order to receive we have to open our heart, hands, and lives. When we give we are more in control. Receiving feels messy and unpredictable > but it is essential. If you only feel safe when you’re giving & consistently resist receiving, then you may have some fears holding you back from getting what you need. {Try writing down what you’re afraid will happen if you receive}.

2.  Receiving feels selfish – we all have serving, generous hearts. We feel guilty for taking {receiving} from someone else. We “don’t need help” because we do not want to take someone’s time or energy. We bless others by letting them give to us. If we give give give and never receive we will be out of balance between giving & receiving. {Try saying yes when someone offers to help you.}

3.   Receiving feels undeserved – we often do not feel like we have earned what others have to give us. We think of receiving as a reward. God tells us receiving is all about Grace > that’s true for the spiritual aspect of our lives along with every other area. If we wait until we are “perfect” to receive then we will wait our entire lives. We can receive not because of what we do but because of who we are in Christ. {Try resisting the urge to deny compliments and simply say “thank you”}.

Receiving is all about “you” and then at the same time it is not. It is about “you” because “you” are the one receiving whatever is it you may be receiving. It is not about you at the same time because someone is trying to bless you and you will bless them in return if you just accept their gifts.

Have an open heart, mind, & life. Receive all the love, blessings, grace, & joy from those precious people around you and don’t be stubborn {something I can work on}. Give & receive evenly and life will be so much more fulfilling.

guard your heart.

Guard your heart. We hear that so many times throughout our lives. We hear it in Sunday school when we are little, then youth group & church throughout junior high and high school, and we read it in the Bible with devotions. But what does it really mean? How do you guard your heart? 

In Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 it says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” I love that verse. I was doing some reading in my study bible tonight and it said “wisdom’s presence in the heart is worth guarding because out of the heart flow all the thoughts and words and choices of a person’s life.” This brought tears to my eyes because after reading that I know I have not guarded my heart my whole life. I have said mean things and made some wrong choices in my 24 years of living. I regret some of them and have learned from a lot of them. 

It is hard to guard your heart. To guard means “to watch over in order to protect”. Sometimes we get so caught up in what other people are doing and we want to do the same, but we forget to make sure it is the right choice for us – for our heart. We jump into relationships too fast and forget to guard our heart. We let our heart run wild and free and get it in return {hurt & broken}.  It is so tough to guard it. 

“Everything we do flows from it”. All the things we do {no matter big or small} flow from our heart. Whether it is loving someone, cheering for someone at a sporting event, paying for the person behind us at Starbucks {or Jamba Juice ;)}, or listening to a friend when they are hurting – all those choices come from our heart. Those are things we are willing to do for someone else. Those are awesome choices! Those are choices that are pleasing to God. But we don’t always make the right choices. We often make horrible choices and hurt someone or even hurt ourselves. Those also come {flowing} from our heart - we chose to make that choice. When that happens is when we let our guard down – we set our heart free {in the wrong way} & Satan comes right in and takes over. Don’t let your guard down! 

Sometimes we have to be selfish and do what is right for us. Keep ourselves from getting hurt – guarding our heart. Don’t let someone know your entire life story when you first meet them. Don’t let Satan knock your guard down and help you make the wrong choice that will later leave you with a broken {unguarded} heart. Keep up to pace with God. Let Him be the only one strong enough to knock your guard down and into your heart. Because ultimately He is the only one who cares about your heart completely. He is the only one who knows your heart completely. & He is the only one who loves your heart completely. God loves you so much that we will never understand it. I have tried to think about it and wrap my mind around it and I seem to fail every time because we will never know. 

Keep your guard up. Use wisdom and make the right choices, say the right things, & think the right things – and guard that heart of yours! It’s yours {forever}. You get to choose how it gets treated by others. You get to choose who to let in. You get to live every day with a heart that belongs to God. Never take it for granted & give it to Him daily.