From the Abundance of our Heart

“A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45

It is so sad that here in Philippines, we have a President who curses, who lies blatantly, who insults anybody, even the Pope, and accuses people of serious crimes without proof. I do not know if it is because of this that many people take to cursing and misinformation on social media as if there is no consequence to their eternal soul.  During this campaign period, so much fake news has been spread to destroy the image of a candidate who has been serving the poor ever since she was a young Human Rights lawyer. 

From the abundance and fullness of our heart, we speak. What is in our hearts? What do we fill our hearts with? Next Wednesday, it is already the start of Lent, a “springtime” for our souls. A time of spring cleaning. What kind of person do we want to be? A person who speaks the truth? We have to make sure to learn from the truth teller Himself, Jesus. The truth cannot be changed. It is not in the mind of the thinker. The truth needs no thinker to validate it. And no matter how many times a lie is said, it is still a lie. 

If we want to be a person full of gratitude, we need to fill our heart with the goodness of what God has prepared for us. It is hard for impatience, unforgiveness, resentment, and anxiety to take root where flowers of gratitude are planted. More often than not, we take for granted our blessings. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, has this to say: “If the only prayer you say throughout your life is ‘Thank You’, then that will be enough.” 

Sometimes it is very hard to choose our thoughts, and Joyce Meyer, author of the best selling ‘Battlefield of the Mind, wrote’, “The enemy knows that if he can get enough wrong things going on in our heads, they will eventually begin to come out of our mouths.” I find that I have to try very hard not to lose the train of my thoughts because I can be so scatter brained! So I always need the Holy Spirit to help me. We cannot do it on our own. Come Holy Spirit! Fill our hearts with only good things!