It’s about heart

“The heart of every problem is a problem in the heart.” – Dr. Davis

What a profound statement.  I love the truth and simplicity in it.  If the heart of every problem is a problem in the heart, then the only way to solve any problem is to focus on the heart. What would your child say if you asked: “Do I have your heart?”  Can you handle their answer?  If the answer is a negative one, are you willing to pay the price, whatever that may be, to win back their heart?  Our hearts were not made to be kept, but to be given away.  So, whoever has your child’s heart will eventually have their life and loyalty as well.  That is why we must be extremely vigilant to not lose their hearts, but get their heart early in life and continually maintain the strings that bond our hearts together.

I make an effort periodically to ask my kids if I have their heart.  I asked Sydney, our 4 year old, last week if I have her heart.  She told me in a somber voice, “no daddy, you no longer have my heart”.  It was priceless information that I knew I needed to act on immediately.  If you ever lose your child’s heart, it is imperative to find out where and when you lost it.  I quizzed Sydney on how I may have lost her heart and together we created an action plan to get it back.  Sydney, along with the rest of my family, spells love, T-I-M-E, and she was not getting the required amount of “daddy time” in her life for me to keep her heart.  She let me know it because I took the time to ask.

The price to regain Sydney’s heart is high as time is my most precious commodity.  It requires me to sacrifice my schedule to make myself available.  I struggle with my self – do I spend a little more time at work to get an important project done, go on a weekend adventure with friends or invest my time in my daughter whose heart I have lost?  It is blatantly obvious where I should choose to spend my time.  I must be intentional in making my family my priority as self is my default mode.  To win back Sydney’s heart I have to spend time with her loving what she loves.  So, in the past couple of days we have read more books together, had an abundant amount of tickle time, and even went camping.  Also, when I see her quietly sitting in her own little world, I snuggle up to her and ask how I may serve her as I tell her how much I love her.  Sydney’s smile is an outward barometer of her heart, and it’s radiant glow is starting to warm our lives once more.

This process has caused me to look at my own heart to make sure it is clean and I am investing in something greater than myself – my family.  Then, when those struggles with self come, I will remember the heart of every problem is a problem in the heart.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” – Psalms 51:10