Having a Heart That Sticks

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as my daughter and I headed out into the darkness on our morning run. As we ran, my thoughts began to stir and turned toward my new job at the church. I was just beginning my second week in my new position and it still felt a bit strange. A smile touched my lips as I recalled the first day in my new position. I pulled into the church parking lot and without even realizing it pulled into my old parking spot. It had been automatic. Even two weeks in, I was still prone to turn down the hallway toward Children's Ministries. The pathway of the familiar beckoned and I had to be intentional in walking the new path set before me.


I wondered why God didn't just make the new path He had laid out for me feel as comfortable as the old. I thought about my friends in children's with whom I had worked so closely for eight years and now, though we were still friends, the relationship had changed - it was different and in some ways to turn from the familiar to the new was painful. A host of other thoughts began lining up at my heart's door, clammoring for my attention. Would I be successful in my new position? What if this wasn't really what I was supposed to do? What if I had made a mistake? As these thoughts paraded through my mind, my daughter and I crossed the bridge just before turning into the park when suddenly we heard a strange sound.


Elizabeth and I looked at each other, large question marks in our eyes as we wondered what the noise was that seemed to be following us. Looking down I spotted the culprit. I had stepped on something that appeared to be some sort of adhesive and it was stuck fast to the bottom of my running shoe. I tried stomping as I ran but it stayed with me. I drug my foot, but it didn't come off. We ran through grass and sand but it stuck to my shoe like glue. I ran uphill and so did the tape. I turned a corner, it was still there. I changed directions but it wouldn't let go. We ran through puddles of water but it did not loosen its grip - it held fast.


Finally, stopping, I bent down and grabbed hold of the tape and pulled it off of my shoe. Looking at Elizabeth, I said, "Wow. That was really sticky. It didn't want to let go of my sole." We continued our run and the words "sticky" and "sole" seemed to dance through my thoughts. "I love sticky hearts," He said. My heart looked up breathless as He who loves perfectly drew me into His presence. I love that I can be running on the outside but sit at the Lord's feet on the inside, don't you?


"Err, sticky hearts?" I asked, uncertain what He was trying to tell me. "You need to stick to me just like that tape was stuck to you," He said. I closed the eyes of my heart and tried to envision being stuck to the Lord's foot. I thought about all the different places He would travel and the ever changing terrain. I thought about what a "Lord's-foot level" view of the world would be like as together we went up hill and down hill, around bends and through valleys. Sometimes we would travel the same path for a while until it became comfortable, like a favorite pair of shoes, and then He would change directions and head into new and unexplored lands. I thought about things that might try to separate me from Him: sharp rocks of doubt or puddles of difficulties, oh, and deep, gritty sand! "ugggh. I hate sand," I whispered. Then I wondered if I would fall off his foot just as the tape had come off my shoe when pulled hard enough.


My heart looked up into the eyes of the One who knows from eternity past to everlasting as He spoke of some of His followers who when things got difficult, fell away (John 6:41-66). "Daughter, do you love me more than these?" His voice rumbled through my heart, shaking my soul awake, so I could hear His every whisper. I recognized the words Jesus had said to Peter as they had walked along the shores of Galilee. The Lord's words touching Peter's broken places and restoring him so He would follow Him anywhere (John 21:15-18).


My heart felt ashamed then as I realized I had drug my feet to follow Him into the new places He was leading me. I had longed for the familiar. I had wanted to return to what I knew, to walk the familiar shores of my comfort zone, just as Peter had. My heart bent low in worship, and as I worshiped Him something wonderful happened. He took my heart in His nail-pierced hands and I whispered, "Lord, is it sticky enough?" He pressed His presence against my heart until it stilled and rested and trusted in the One who promised never to let me go. "Lord," I whispered. "What is it, daughter," He asked. And though I knew He already knew what I was going to ask I asked Him anyway. "Lord, give me a heart that sticks to You." The eastern sky turned pink with the promise of a new day as His eyes danced and His voice thundered as He said, "Daughter, you are mine. I know you. You know my voice. No one can snatch you from me. Follow Me."


Dear one, do you have a heart that sticks to the Lord no matter what or a heart that has turned away? Are you ready to follow Him eagerly anywhere He leads or are you longing for the shores of the familiar? Read John 21:15-19. End your time by reading Romans chapter 8. O beloved, the Lord loves a sticky heart that attaches itself to Him and gladly goes with Him everywhere He leads. Be still. Do you hear Him? He is calling you, beckoning you to run to Him in all your "stickiness" Will you ask Him anew to give you a heart that sticks? This would be a great time to have a conversation with the Lord about all that is in your heart.


An original Conversations at the Well
Copyright By Diana Morgan
August 7, 2010