It’s been a short night of interrupted sleep with no sleep afterwards.
So I decided to work on finishing up studying James.
I didn’t make it, though, because I ran into the following verse, and ended up camped out there the rest of the night/morning–whatever this is.
The verse is short, found in James 5:8:
You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Of course I need to be patient, and I understand that the coming of the Lord is at hand.
But do I know how to establish my heart?
Of course we know that establish means to bring something to a position of having a firm basis. And we do that through disciplines such as studying scripture, consistent prayer, worship. But I found out that establish has another meaning as well.
It also means “to show to be valid or true; to prove.” I’m too tired to look up what the greek meaning of the word is. But I find this definition interesting. Show my heart (or rather, my soul-the seat of who I am) to be valid or true.
And that’s what I want to be able to do. Yes, I want to continue to establish my soul through the disciplines, constantly working to bring my soul to a solid place. And I want to show it to be valid and true. How do I do that? After much writing and thinking during this short night, I still don’t have a good answer. But I would say that I come close when I am willing to obey the command: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”
I want an established heart–an established soul.