Hearts Full

Happy is he, whose heart
hath found the art
to turn his double pains
to double praise.

- George Herbert

This is not a post about how I love/despise/am indifferent to Valentine's Day. I think if we live our every day with hearts full of God's love for one another, we would have love-filled days every day.

Most mornings rise with many challenges ahead for the day that we have to work through. Whether it is within ourselves, or with others, we have things to work on. We can always look for the joys and goodness, despite, perhaps, the struggling that might be going on in the present. Our view should be that we can work through it, knowing that God is with us, and he has our best interests in the plan, ready for us to step into. We are being sharpened, which isn't usually an easy breezy thing. I am trying to remember this every day, and live it.

As we walk through bumpy roads, we become ingrained with wisdom as we make good decisions. We gain wisdom when we work with people having ears and hearts open to them. We gain wisdom when we encourage one another. We gain wisdom when we look to the interest of others over ourselves. We gain wisdom when we are full of patience in difficult situations.

This is how we can praise when we are amidst struggles. By making the best decisions of love over the selfishness that might seem more appealing at the time. Let's ponder that in our hearts as this weekend of Valentine's sweeps over us.