guard your heart

have 
a heart

meaning 

make room
in your life
for compassion

care
empathize
befriend
understand

have a heart

most of this life journey
has involved 
lessons of the heart

with heavy 
emphasis on others

love your neighbor
and even your enemy

sunday school lessons
lodged forever in my 
being 
have guided my 
life choices

i learned how to care 
about others
even for my bullies

don't get on the same level as the bully
don't respond
think about their words
their actions 
they are most likely hurting and afraid
that is the usual make up of a bully
the typical reason for 
the bullying 

love your neighbor
even your enemy

and i did
for the most part

i mean 
for GOD's 
sake 
i'm only human

i didn't love perfectly
i haven't loved perfectly 

but i can 
honestly say 
i loved others 
had compassion 
and concern for others 

while learning very little
about 

self 
care
and what it means 
to love
myself

slow down!
           
             really....

slow 
        down!

don't jump to 
conclusions or extremes...

i'm not talking about 
inflated ego 
self indulgent
navel gazing 
over glorification 
of my own needs
and existence 
over and above
the needs and existence 
of everyone else

i'm talking about 
the simplest level of
care for 
myself
the basics of self
respect

seems i 
didn't learn 
that lesson well

perhaps the fact 
that there weren't many people 
around to teach the lesson 
means a boat 
load of other's didn't 
and haven't learned 
how to care for themselves
in the simplest level of 
caring and loving
either

so it's no surprise
i heard this message again:

      "you need to guard your heart"

yes, 
i've heard that i need to 
guard my heart
i know i need to do this

only thing 
i don't know how!

"tell me 
how!"

and he did:

"you don't own the words 
of the other

remember the bully?
remember his words?
those words never belonged to you
they belonged to him
you should have never taken 
those words into your heart

you don't own the words 
spoken to you today either

guard your heart
let the one who spoke those words 
own their words

you can care for them
and let them own their words 
at the same time

you can also tell them
to stop it

guard your heart

have compassion for the other
offer your heart

but 
also have compassion for yourself
and guard your heart
when the circumstances arise"

i've been careless 
it seems 

i'm learning to be more 
care
     full.