[Thursday's Devotional] - A Piece of Your Heart

One quote I saw as a status update on Facebook recently made me really consider how I sometimes react to certain people and situations.

"It is better to give somebody a piece of your heart than a piece of your mind."

I would like to think that I seldom say an unkind or critical word, but of course I would merely be fooling myself. Some habits from my 'old nature' are still a thorn in my side, however, I am making a conscious decision to bite my tongue (or get a big ol' angel to grab hold of it) before I open my mouth. This is a change I am hoping God will bring about in 2013.

"Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone." Proverbs 25:15 [NIV]. Gentle speech does what it seems at first least capable of doing; it overcomes obstacles which are as bones that the strongest jaws would fail to crush. Proverbs 15:1 gives us a similar message.

In my own strength I find this hard but thankfully I have a helper. Over Christmas, my son visited with his girlfriend and we had a most wonderful time. Just before leaving he asked "Mum? Is there a ghost in this house?" I enquired why he thought there may be 'a ghost in my house' (I refrained from a vocal rendition of the famous Motown classic). He replied "It just feels like it", so I asked "What does it feel like?" he responded "It feels kind and good, a friendly ghost". Of course there is a ghost that lives in our home and it's not Casper! The Holy Ghost is in the house and produces the fruit of His spirit "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23) in our homes and in us.

I was greatly encouraged that in our house, and that of many of our friends, Jesus does not come out of the loft with the Christmas decorations and go back up at the start of the New Year. All year round 'God is in da house' and visitors feel his presence, it saddens me that many do not know his existence in such a personal way. As we share a piece of God's heart with others, rather than a piece of our own minds we bring a change to ourselves and others. As the carol testifies, 'where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in' to transform our hearts, our minds and our lives.

Dawn Milward