Lock and Key

         Windows, doors, cars, safes, lockers, and suitcases… what do these things all have in common? They all have locks on them. We have grown up in a world that has made us feel insecure with leaving our possessions unlocked or unprotected of some sorts. Haven’t we done the same with our very own hearts? We get hurt once or twice causing us to lose trust in someone or something and we lock away our hearts for safe keeping, separating them from a world of hurt and pain. When really, our hearts are never really safe or secure in our own hands or even the hands of anyone of worldly matter. Instead, they remain safe and secure in the hands of the Lord who although remains unseen in heaven, is never truly separated from us. It’s easy to say out loud and possibly even to believe that our hearts remain safe somewhere, somehow, but is it easy to do?

         As a child, we are told about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and many other unseen characters. So when we are young we are taught and we learn to trust what is unseen. Although we later grow and learn that these are all fictional characters, we learn that there is one that remains constant: Our Father in Heaven. We look back and see where he was, how he worked and tested us, and when he kept our hearts in safekeeping. I was reminded yesterday by my dear friend Meredith that we need to believe in our Lord the way we believed in Santa Claus, not just by saying it, but by believing it and being filled with the spirit of Christ. When you ask a young child about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, they believe in it with their whole heart, without a doubt. If only we could capture that and truly understand why we are called the children of the Lord, to not only have faith and innocence, but also the absence of doubt.  We need to believe in our Lord without a doubt and that once our hearts remain in him, how safe and secure we are and that nothing can prevent us from reaching our eternal destination.  We live in a world where everything is locked up and stored away, whether it be our possessions or our hearts. What we do not realize is that there are so many locks and not enough keys and that the true key lies within the Lord when we choose to believe in Him.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” {1 Corinthians 13:12}

“But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, ‘Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole’" {Luke 8:50}

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” {Psalm 73:26}

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows" {Proverbs 4:23}

“But I was sure of something, too: it's a lot easier to be lost than found. It's the reason we're always searching, and rarely discovered--so many locks, not enough keys” {Sarah Dessen}