The Heart To

Monday Devotional

“Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Proverbs 4:23

Mark, a midwestern family physician with a good eye for investments, has lifted his family into affluence through hard work.  He’s provided his wife—who comes from a poorer background—with a good living, and he’s the type of husband who does the dishes, puts the kids to bed while his wife reads or takes a bath, and is the first to volunteer for “car duty” (taking the kids to their sporting and church events).

Because of his job, Mark needs to literally leave the city to get away from his work—otherwise, someone stops him after church to ask about a sore shoulder or an irregular heartbeat.  At the grocery store, he can be asked to diagnose a rash, and at the library he might be stopped to give his opinion on a daily aspirin regimen that someone just heard mentioned on the radio.

More than anything, Mark appreciates getting away with his wife so the two of them can enjoy each other’s company without interruption.  It would mean even more to him if his wife would plan a weekend, or even just a night away, six to eight times a year.  It’s not as though Charlotte (Mark’s wife) isn’t equipped to handle this.  Before the investments came in, she used to work in the travel industry; but she now has the opportunity to do basically whatever she wants.

Even so, by the time I spoke with Mark, it had been almost a year since Charlotte had planned anything like this.  Mark reminds Charlotte of this every five months or so, which usually results in a heated argument that ends with Charlotte saying, “Fine, go get your calendar and we’ll plan something right now.”