An Open Heart

Today was my early day for work. (Did I mention I'm thankful I have a job? I am truly thankful!) As I was pulling out of my driveway, by chance, I glanced over at the neighbor's driveway and saw a half-asleep teen worshiping the garage door. It was quite the sight to behold. I called out, "good morning sunshine!" To which, I received some garbled reply. Morning is truly the cruelest joke upon teens. Perhaps they would do far better having night school rather than school in the daytime.
Normally, I am not met with much traffic on my early Wednesday morning commute. Today, however, was quite different. There was a parking lot of traffic awaiting me as I merged onto the 57 freeway. I espied several details one doesn't normally observe when traversing the highways and byways of the California mass transit corridors. The most pronounced of which was there be verdant green grasses growing on the freeway! Well, not actually ON the freeway…but IN the crack barely an inch or two wide, the length of a mile or more. At first, I thought it was just a few seedlings here and there, but as far as I can tell, the whole cracked pavement is teeming with green grass. Isn't that amazing? So many Biblical parallels come to mind! And, even a quote from Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way…" jumped into my ruminations.
Mostly, I was in wonder and awe of Who God is and how He achieves His plans. If the pavement was perfect and non-cracked, it would still serve its purpose of providing a smooth drive from one destination to another, but it would miss out on the opportunity to have life! And having a crack, no bigger than the one I saw, did not impede the ability of the pavement to still do as it was intended, but something altogether NOT intended happened. Life. Growth. An object lesson for me.
No matter how much I try, I don't have a perfect heart nor life. All the cracks, crevices and fissures opened in my heart are an opportunity for growth. Do I embrace growth in Christ? Or, do I look for ways to cover the imperfections and present a false-perfect life to my family, friends, co-workers, brothers and sisters in Christ? Probably this pondering allowed me to really enjoy the following devotional from Spurgeon's Morning & Evening:

"Whose heart the Lord opened." - Acts 16:14

In Lydia’s conversion there are many points of interest. It was brought about by providential circumstances. She was a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, but just at the right time for hearing Paul we find her at Philippi; providence, which is the handmaid of grace, led her to the right spot. Again, grace was preparing her soul for the blessing-grace preparing for grace. She did not know the Saviour, but as a Jewess, she knew many truths which were excellent stepping-stones to a knowledge of Jesus. Her conversion took place in the use of the means. On the Sabbath she went when prayer was wont to be made, and there prayer was heard. Never neglect the means of grace; God may bless us when we are not in his house, but we have the greater reason to hope that he will when we are in communion with his saints. Observe the words, "Whose heart the Lord opened." She did not open her own heart. Her prayers did not do it; Paul did not do it. The Lord himself must open the heart, to receive the things which make for our peace. He alone can put the key into the hole of the door and open it, and get admittance for himself. He is the heart’s master as he is the heart’s maker. The first outward evidence of the opened heart was obedience. As soon as Lydia had believed in Jesus, she was baptized. It is a sweet sign of a humble and broken heart, when the child of God is willing to obey a command which is not essential to his salvation, which is not forced upon him by a selfish fear of condemnation, but is a simple act of obedience and of communion with his Master. The next evidence was love, manifesting itself in acts of grateful kindness to the apostles. Love to the saints has ever been a mark of the true convert. Those who do nothing for Christ or his church, give but sorry evidence of an "opened" heart. Lord, evermore give me an opened heart.

Oh, Amen!
Me too! Me too!!!
dogledanje!!