Locks, keys,
alarms, passwords, smoke detectors, vaults,
Insurance, strong boxes -- intrusions to halt --
A few of the ways we protect things important.
Protecting our stuff, we must not be imprudent.
To aid our quest, we employ technology,
And now seek to do it bio-metrically.
There’s no stone left unturned to
protect all of our stuff,
‘Cause when intruders get in, things vanish ...in a puff!
But look carefully across landscapes of our lives.
You’ll see places where intruders don’t have to strive.
Places we have practically left wide open.
No doubt they have been violated. That’s certain!
In these places, most intruders are known, some are not.
Our lives unveil the damage these intruders have wrought.
Yet we refuse on these places to put good protections,
Nothing close to those for computer virus contagion.
Perhaps it’s because to these places we are all blind,
And because intruders don’t take, but leave stuff behind.
The stuff they leave is, at first glance, inconspicuous.
Thus, we tend to overlook its insidiousness.
Are you wondering what are these places of which I speak?
Which intruders, what stuff? Is your curiosity piqued?
Quite simply, the places are your mind, gateway to your heart.
The stuff is ‘seeds of thought’ whose fruit may be your ‘future’s chart’.
Intruders are those whose words and ways corrupt good values,
Anyone or thing that seeks your good morals to abuse.
Without warning bells that sound the INTRUDER ALERT,
Their brash or stealthy intrusions you will not avert.
Then all of the junk they will have dumped and left behind,
Will infect your life, as to their fruits, you’ll be inclined.
Unless you’re perceptive, you may never realize,
Just how much of your thoughts, words and ways they catalyze!
So learn to guard and protect the gateway to your heart,
One day your heart will thank your mind for doing its part.1
That which you allow your mind lengthily to dwell upon,
Will in your heart spread roots, from which fruits will one day be drawn.
To help with this task, God gave us a 6-point checklist:
On things true, noble, just, pure, lovely & good, dwell, persist.2
We work all our
lives on ‘right stuff and status’ collection.
Now let’s not omit
God’s ‘right stuff and status’ protection!
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1 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:20-23)
1 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:20-23)
2 Finally, brethren, whatever things are
true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are
pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there
is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8)
