The Heart Canvas

This morning I was exposed to the painters world.

They say good painters have a steady mind and a hand that guides the image in the mind to the canvas.

Unfortunately, I have neither the hand nor the focus of a painter.

Fortunately this was a different kind of class; I was learning to paint on the heart.

The heart canvas

The moment I opened my eyes in the morning thoughts, which seemed to have been waiting for me to wake up, poured into my head uninvited.

Elaborate pictures of situations in my life galloped across my mind.

And as they did, fear, worry and anxiety gripped me.

It wasn’t long before I was held captive – frozen and wide-eyed, replaying scenes of gloom in my head.

At that moment I knew that I had a choice; to decide what my mind was going to dwell or allow it to make the choice for me.

I could not just wake up and allow whatever popped into my head to rule.

Because my heart is a blank canvas.

But it’s the kind of canvas that does not stay blank for long.

It’s made to be painted on.

So I have the choice to paint beauty.

Or leave it blank and allow others (negative situations) to paint whatever they wanted. (

A nosy neighbor, an empty bank account, an irksome spouse, a rough business spell, they can all have their time on my canvas.

They can tell me how to think, what to say, where to go, what to dwell on.

The sad thing about allowing others to have a go at my canvas feels normal, justified.

For really, what’s a woman to do when her account is empty? Stress out.

What’s a wife to do with an irksome husband? Irk back.

Unless we take control, most of us tend to flow with the crowd.

We’ve grown up conditioned to flow with our environment.

Taking responsibility for our actions and emotions, sifting what enters our mind is such a tough act.

It feels simpler to allow people and circumstances to dictate what we feel and what we do.

It’s easier to justify our anger than it is to take responsibility for an unforgiving whiny spirit.

Easier to “punish” our spouse than to extend forgiveness and grace.

The results?

We refuse to rise above our circumstances.

We become the last person to pick up a paintbrush to paint the right things on the canvas of our hearts.

Learning to paint

My morning journal read thus;

“In order to escape fear, worry and anxiety, I write Faith. Radical, no-nonsense, unshakable faith in my Creator and His plan for my life. I am engaged in life.

God (and life generally) tends to increase what you have in your hand, not what is out there in the bush. It’s definitely much easier to steer a moving vehicle than a stationary one.

I formulate a plan. I have goals and ideas of how to achieve them. I hold the painters brush. By grace, I make a choice and decide how life should go”

That morning, I learned our hearts and minds were never meant to stay blank.

They are meant to be filled with beautiful things.

The choice is yours (and mine); either we write something there or somebody else will.

Don’t just go with the flow, make a choice. Deposit something good in your heart.

For as you think, so you are.

Question. Who is painting on your heart canvas? Are you making intentional choices that lead towards the life God designed for you? Share in Comments