The heart is the center of the wellspring of both physical and spiritual life. God needs and wants to be the center of our hearts.

Psalm 51: 10 Create in me a pure heart,O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. 

As I read these scriptures, I think about an article I read the other day about taking on another person’s negative energy. This is something I have struggled with in the past. If I am around a person or people who are sad, depressed, angry, hurt, or negative in any way; I allow their energy to drain the life out of me. I see how God is asking me to learn how to protect me heart. So, when I am faced with negativity I can be a source of his living water, instead of a river that has run dry. I believe any negative energy can be renewed by God’s love and grace, which I know flows through me. Because Christ is in me; at the center of my heart. God asks me to show those around me who he is. I feel like God is saying that when I come across people who are radiating negative energy, he can use my heart like a damn to allow his love to flow into the person who is negative. Rivers are supposed to flow in one direction, but when I am around the person or people who drains my energy, I often will find myself filling up with the very negativity that the person is radiating. It’s as if the river is flowing in reverse. If my heart is not protected, the joy of a sunny day disappears only to be filled by another who has clouds looming. Instead of allowing my heart to get drained, creating emptiness; I should protect my heart with a damn. Allowing God to use the river of love he has filled in me, to fill the empty hole the other person has inside of them that created the negativity. My hope then is that God teaches me how to better guard my heart, and build a damn…. as he continues to be the living water that dwells in the center of my heart.