This time of year the front gutter on my house fills with leaves. The leaves are dry, and most tend to blow away. But a few stick and attract more. Over the coming winter I won’t notice. Snow fills the gutters and melts slowly, trickling past the leaves. But when serious rains arrive, the downspout clogs, water pours over the top and begins to ruin the siding. Willful ignorance today leads to problems next summer.

My heart works a lot like my rain gutter. It gathers small distractions, hardly a concern, until the piling on leads to issues.

David understood this issue of the heart. He wrote, Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Years later, the Lord spoke through the prophet Ezekiel of a heart replacement. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

My heart hardens and plugs, then sheds the living waters of the Lord. I need the Holy Spirit to remove the detritus and allow my heart to soften, to once again fear the Lord, keep his laws, and detect his whisper.

Just like I watch my gutter, I gotta watch my heart. The rains are coming and I want to be ready.

Psalm 86 & Ezekiel 36 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Jon Sailer