listening and speaking: the overflow of the heart

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I talk to a lot of people. One of the ways that I pursue intentional community with people is to set up regular times to hang out. Some are dear friends that hold me accountable, some are other moms, some are girls I disciple, and others are new relationships. Setting up regular time with others provides a rhythm to my weeks, keeps me sane, and feeds my soul. I've been thinking a lot about the power of our words and the power of listening. For your sake, I've decided to split my thoughts over a few posts. Here goes.

There's a time and place for small talk, but I need people that can push past it and get real. Luke 6:45 says, "from the overflow(abundance) of the heart, the mouth speaks." When I'm not getting time with Jesus, I can spend hours talking about my kids. Now, the majority of my day is filled with my kids, so it's fair that I tend to talk about them a lot. That's my day. What's not okay, is for my whole identity to be wrapped up in them. I know when I'm feeling spiritually empty because I avoid talking about Jesus. He is not the overflow of my heart. 

Last week, my friend came over for some much needed catch up. She's known me for a long time and she knows the things that I struggle with. We talked for a while, then she pointedly asked me something along the lines of, "So how are you doing with finding your identity in Jesus and not just in being a mom?" Straight to the heart. Thank you. 

I gave her a short answer about how I felt like it was getting better and that I wasn't plagued with so much guilt anymore about the things I wasn't doing. True, but not exactly the answer. I've still been thinking about that question and I'm so glad that she asked. My intention for this blog was to reflect on the things I'm learning and to share my life with people. In looking over my posts for the past two months you can see that there's a lot about my family and very little reflection about Jesus and how He is moving in my life. Part of that is that it's just hard to find time to sit down and compose a well-thought out post. The bigger culprit, however, is what's going on in my heart. 

I pray that I will make time to really soak up Jesus. My desire is for Him to be the overflow of my heart. I pray that I will be so full that it would be impossible for me not to sing His praises. I'm thankful for the people in my life that get right to the heart. If I'm not talking about Jesus, what am I talking about?