#SweetSpirit #CreateYourNow #SoulfulSunday

That language is urgent because the stakes are urgent. Everything we do — every decision, every reaction, every relationship, every step forward or backward — flows from the heart. It is the wellspring. It is the source. And if the source is polluted, the path will show it.

Think about that for a moment. What flows from your heart right now? Is it peace or anxiety? Is it faith or fear? Is it clarity or confusion?

The answer will likely tell you what you’ve been allowing in. Because the heart doesn’t guard itself. It absorbs. It takes in whatever we give it — the voices, the images, the opinions, the noise — and it shapes our steps accordingly.

We live in an age of unfiltered access. Technology has handed us the entire world in the palm of our hands, and with it has come an avalanche of distraction. News cycles designed to stir outrage. Social media platforms built to hook our attention and hold it hostage. Conversations that pull us into comparison, into self-doubt, into places God never intended for us to dwell. None of it is accidental. Every notification, every algorithm, every autoplay video is designed to capture your focus — and focus is a resource of the heart.

Solomon goes on in Proverbs 4:25–27 to say, “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

There’s an intentionality in those words that we can’t afford to miss. He’s not describing a passive walk. He’s describing a deliberate one. Eyes forward. Feet steady. No wandering. That kind of focus doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by choice — daily, sometimes hourly, sometimes minute by minute.

Guarding your heart means becoming a gatekeeper of your own life. It means asking, “Does this belong here?” before you let something in. That podcast you listen to on your morning commute — is it building your faith or eroding it? That group text, that conversation at the office, that late-night scroll through social media — is it drawing you closer to who God created you to be, or pulling you further from it? These aren’t dramatic questions. They’re practical ones. And wisdom lives in the practical.

The Psalmist knew this, too. In Psalm 119:105, we read, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Notice the imagery. A lamp for my feet — not a floodlight for the entire highway. God’s Word gives us just enough light for the next step. And that next step requires a heart that’s clear enough to see it. When we flood our hearts with noise and distraction, we dim that lamp. We make it harder to hear the voice that actually matters. We trade the light of truth for the glow of a screen, and then we wonder why the path feels uncertain.

The K.I.S.S. ~ Guard your heart, guard your path!

But here’s the beautiful part of all of this — guarding your heart isn’t about building walls. It’s about building wisdom. It’s not about living in fear of the world. It’s about living with such intention that the world doesn’t get to dictate your direction.

“When your heart is rooted in God’s Word, when it’s fed by truth and watered by prayer, it becomes steady ground. And from steady ground, you walk a steady path.” ~ Kristianne Wargo

At some point, our wisdom must meet our walk. It’s not enough to know what’s right. It’s not enough to underline verses and nod along on Sunday morning.

Wisdom asks us to live it. To put the phone down when it’s stealing our peace. To step away from conversations that plant seeds of doubt. To turn off the noise long enough to hear God whisper, “This is the way — walk in it.” That’s where the guarding happens. Not in some grand, once-and-for-all decision, but in the small, daily choices that add up to a life of purpose.

So today, take inventory. What have you been letting in? What voices are shaping the way you see yourself, your family, your future? And are those voices aligned with the One who created you for something beautiful? Because the path ahead of you is good. God has already laid it out. But to walk it well, you have to protect the place it all begins.

Guard your heart, and you will guard your path.

“One step at a time leads to miles of greatness! — that’s where wisdom meets the walk.” ~ Kristianne Wargo

And with God lighting the way, not a single step is wasted.

“Be present. Be incredible. Be YOU!!!“