Driving through town today on one of the main streets in Lincoln, I was struck by the great irony that the center of this city is constructed around a cemetery.
And I was saddened by the fact that this peaceful place of respect and silence is now feet away from shopping malls and fast food establishments. Most of us drive through it every day, and I would bet that most days we don't give it a second thought-- if we even notice it at all in the midst of our schedules.
Although it's a beautiful sanctuary intended to be a hallowed ground; now a constant rush of busyness runs directly through it, stopping only to let monotonous routine pass by.
We as people do the same thing. Focused on our daily repetition we barely open our eyes to the world around us. Instead of centering our hearts around heavenly peace, we let our very core become a place to bury our emotions.
And just like that cemetery, many of us close off sections of our heart, seal it behind walls, and put on our blinders whenever fate brings us along its iron gates. We let the distractions fill up the remainder of the map & hope that the more we build, the less we will remember the place of pain and sorrow in the middle.
Maybe it's time we take a look at what we've built our foundation upon. Instead of constructing roads to zig-zag around our void, we need to remember that the only freeway to live on is actually a one way path straight to heaven.
So let Christ become the center of your soul. Scale back. Breathe in and let him into your guarded defenses. Slow down. Be vulnerable.
Your heart should be a place of peace and rest... But not lifeless.
