Wednesday Walkthrough . . . What's Your Core Strength?

photo courtesy of alpha7allan

Hello dear friends, did you miss me last week? I sincerely apologize for being absent without notice. I took the liberty of a day off since last Wednesday was my birthday. I hope you understand. And, yes, it was a lovely, quiet, and blessing-filled day. I have much to be thankful for. And I am noticing a trend that the older one gets, the quieter the birthday celebrations. I like that. I like it a lot.

Back to business . . . I just heard a really challenging message tonight, and for today's walkthrough I want to take a stroll inward and examine your heart. My question to you is "What's your core strength?"

Recently I've been working a lot on my physical body's core strength. I'm in a kickboxing class, and we don't just do fun punches and kicks; we do tons of core-strengthening exercises as well. My least favorite is the plank . . . followed by a twisting plank . . . followed by more plank. Yikes!

The message I heard tonight talked about the simple truth that what's in abundance in your heart is what will show up in your life. Or, put another way, whatever is strongest in the core of your life, that will dictate your destiny.

I'd like to challenge you to take a moment and think about what's in the core of your being? The easiest way to figure out what's at the core is to look at how you reacted to your last crisis or trial. Did fear consume you? Did you get depressed? Were you overcome with worry? Anxiety? Insecurity? If so, that's a good indicator of what's in your core.

If the opposite is true, and instead of fear, faith and hope rose up inside you, then that conversely is an indicator of what's in your core.

And as simple a truth as "what goes in, must come out"; you can easily identify where the source of that fear or faith is.

Consider these sources inputing in your life. How much time are you giving them to "strengthen your core"? TV. Talk radio. Your Family. The Negative Nancy's in your life. Your music. Your church. Your friends. Your reading material. Your favorite websites/blogs/chatrooms. I'm not saying it's time to completely do away with the negative; I'm just saying, keep the scales tipped toward the positive. When the majority of what you put in is based in faith, that faith will surface again in time of trial.

And considering the craziness going on around us . . . yep, that economy, crime, politics, etc., it's good to be in a position where you can respond with faith and hope instead of fear.