Tracks in the Heart

This is where the dirt road ends and pavement begins. There are a lot of tire tracks found in that loose, red Georgia soil, but you will not see a single impression in the asphalt (except maybe on a blistering hot Summer's day when you can fry an egg on that surface).

I believe most people reading my posts would rather have a dirt road over asphalt. They would prefer a slow ride down a quiet, country road over the hectic hustle of the big city traffic jungle.

This photo speaks to me about the condition of a person's heart though. There are strangers, friends and family you meet regularly who appear on the surface to be hardhearted. They haven't always been that way but circumstances turned their warm heart of compassion into a cold heart of stone -- and nothing or no one can make a positive impression on them or move them. And then there are those whose hearts are soft, pliable, vulnerable... people on whom others leave a deep impression -- sometimes for bad, but mostly for good. They are willing to be moved, disturbed and shifted for the sake of others. The evidence of their humility and sacrifice is etched clearly into their persona and character.

Jesus, quoting the prophet Isaiah, spoke of what it meant to be hardened in one's heart:

‘When you hear what I say,
you will not understand.
When you see what I do,
you will not comprehend.
For the hearts of these people are hardened,
and their ears cannot hear,
and they have closed their eyes—
so their eyes cannot see,
and their ears cannot hear,
and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
and let me heal them.’
(Matthew 13:14-16)

The opposite of this person is the one who permits God to leave a mark on his or her life. Though their heart might have once been rock hard, they allowed God, the Great Physician, to give them a heart transplant.

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Don't be hardhearted like asphalt -
stubborn, inflexible, deaf, blind, disobedient and sin-sick.

Be softhearted like the country road -
tender, responsive, Spirit-filled, obedient and alive