Following your heart
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Following your heart
Had a great meeting recently and discussed following your heart....we hear that so much in our culture today....but following our hearts gets us into trouble....and pain. Why ? Bc our hearts are sinful by nature....if we follow God (or your higher power), we don't get ourselves into sinful situations or behaviors and naturally do the right thing. I can look back and see each situation in my life that was a sin or ended badly was bc I was not following my Lord, I was following my heart and all it's sinful wants. Is it any wonder I made bad choices bc God wasn't first? Nope. Eyes clearly see MY missteps in my life. God-that little feeling telling you or screaming at you that something just ain't right....listen !!!!
Anyway, just thought I'd share....thought it may help some of y'all dealing with all this crap!
Anyway, just thought I'd share....thought it may help some of y'all dealing with all this crap!
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Hmm . . . interesting thought here Forourgirls.
I think in our heart of hearts we really long for God. Of course there is the desire for food/sex/fame/power but beneath and beyond that is a bigger more fundamental desire for God IMHO.
I like the saying, "Listen to your feelings but don't dance to them." This coincides with my experience that if you keep pushing a desire away, it will get stronger. We do better by being aware and honoring the feeling but not necessarily acting on it. (I'm kind of rambling to myself here as I've given this a lot of thought and struggle to practice a lot of this. So this all may be more about myself than anything worthwhile to you)
I think in our heart of hearts we really long for God. Of course there is the desire for food/sex/fame/power but beneath and beyond that is a bigger more fundamental desire for God IMHO.
I like the saying, "Listen to your feelings but don't dance to them." This coincides with my experience that if you keep pushing a desire away, it will get stronger. We do better by being aware and honoring the feeling but not necessarily acting on it. (I'm kind of rambling to myself here as I've given this a lot of thought and struggle to practice a lot of this. So this all may be more about myself than anything worthwhile to you)
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^ great stuff!!! Yes, in our hearts lie the sinful nature of pride, lust, fear, etc....but what we are truly searching for and desire is God. He's the only one that can truly fulfill our hearts desires and protect us from our own sinful nature. I know for me , my life unt a few years ago was trying to find these things in other people-expecting them to give me what only God could-and that led me straight down a path of sin. Too many to name. He always had my best interests-I just had to find him again and be willing to listen!! (And boy can that be trying and downright really freaking hard at times, but I try my best).
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If I had Him leading my life and if my ears had been open, I wouldn't have the need to be in this forum bc my choices would have been vastly different. BUT, God brought me here and helped extricate me from my marriage to a person hellbent on tearing us all apart. God is good , all the time.
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I've had to struggle with this and learn to respect my own heart as I do believe we have special earthly joys that God gives us (music, sports, books, movies, nature, crafts, painting). To me, we have almost a moral obligation to develop these desires/interests/talents. I read a book once about Holy Leisure. I can't remember the details but remember the phrase.
Hmm . . .there is a difference between self-care and self-indulgence.
Hmm . . .there is a difference between self-care and self-indulgence.
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I cannot speak about following God instead of my heart as I do not share your beliefs. However, I find that if I replace God by core values, I come to that conclusion : let your heart point you in a direction, and let your core values decide if the path is right for you or not.
Like Bek, I believe that many earthly things bring us joy, sometimes proufond joy. I also feel I have a moral obligation to develop and nurture these things. But it is my core values that will make the final decision.
Like Bek, I believe that many earthly things bring us joy, sometimes proufond joy. I also feel I have a moral obligation to develop and nurture these things. But it is my core values that will make the final decision.
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Originally Posted by Kata 
I cannot speak about following God instead of my heart as I do not share your beliefs. However, I find that if I replace God by core values, I come to that conclusion : let your heart point you in a direction, and let your core values decide if the path is right for you or not.
Like Bek, I believe that many earthly things bring us joy, sometimes proufond joy. I also feel I have a moral obligation to develop and nurture these things. But it is my core values that will make the final decision.
Like Bek, I believe that many earthly things bring us joy, sometimes proufond joy. I also feel I have a moral obligation to develop and nurture these things. But it is my core values that will make the final decision.
A good read about balancing heart and core-values/thought is Khalil Gibran's The Prophet. Actually there is just one essay in the book about The Passion and the Rationale. It describes my experience that the heart/desire/passion is not evil nor is critical-thinking/rationales evil. It is when they are divorced from each other that evil grows.
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