You can’t hardly look out your window in Alaska without seeing a glacier here or there. We’re blessed in this beautiful land to see them often and sometimes even hike right up to them. Glaciers aren’t just beautiful, though. They serve an important role in our ecosystem, primarily as a constant source of freshwater that feeds nearly every river in the world in one way or another.

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One such river is the mighty Amazon in South America. Did you know that even rivers in the tropical jungle are often fed by glaciers? What’s fascinating is that the headwaters of the mighty Amazon, a glacier called Nevado Mismi in the Peruvian Andes, starts as a tiny stream out of the glacier called the Carhuasanta Creek. This small stream of fresh glacial water eventually merges with another river, which merges with another river, and another, and another before finally becoming the Amazon River we know of.

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How could such a small trickle of glacial water turn into the expansive waters of the Amazon? Because that’s what rivers do – they don’t stay static – they flow! As two rivers flow together, their footprint and impact expand, growing and growing with each flow of water that is adjoined.

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Could the same happen with our hearts? Could the headwaters of our heart be the small trickle that, when joined with the waters of others’ hearts, becomes a force of significant impact?

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‍Yes - this is a picture of the Church! So, for our own sake and for the sake of God’s Church, we must guard our heart.

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Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Imagine the impact if the Nevado Mismi and Carhuasanta Creek became polluted? How many hundreds of thousands of communities, villages, and cities would that small stream impact? Everything flows from it. The same is true of our heart. Scripture reminds us of the impact the health of our heart has - for ourselves and for others.

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However, this verse might actually have even more broad-reaching implications for our lives than we initially realize. Guard your heart, it says. In modern, Western thought, we probably translate that to mean, protect and steward the emotional aspects of your life. Don’t get too attached to the wrong people; don’t give your heart to unworthy loves or desires; be mindful of what you allow to draw your affection. This interpretation is wisdom, but it’s not a complete picture of what the Hebrew writer had in mind when he said to “guard your heart.”  

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See, in Hebrew thought, the “heart” or “lēḇ,” meant a lot more than it does in English. For the Hebrew thinker, one’s leb was the inner man - one’s center of emotion (what we would call the “heart” in English), the center of intellect (what we would call the “mind”), AND the will. This is what the writer tells us to guard with the utmost care - your inner person - your heart, your mind, and your will.

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This tracks with psychology too - many schools of thought recognize that different people lead from different “places” in their soul - some from the emotional center (heart), some from the more cerebral or intellectual angle (mind), and some go through life with a more instinctual grounding - we might call it your “gut.”  

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Scripture speaks to all three, reminding us to guard the headwaters of our inner person with care, because everything we do flows from that place. The small, seemingly insignificant trickle of your heart’s headwaters flow out through your actions, meeting up with the waters of others, flowing out into impact of one kind or another. When our headwaters reek of malice, envy, and strife, that is what flows out into our impact on others. But when we allow Jesus to purify and cleanse the headwaters of our heart, we let HIM flow out from our inner person to the world around us - a phenomenon we often term “being the hands and feet of Jesus.”

What’s flowing out of your inner person today? If reflection reveals that what’s flowing isn’t of Jesus, ask him what needs to change in how you guard your heart. How might Jesus want to help your guard your headwaters today, as a matter of good stewardship? Maybe it’s a boundary established, an app deleted, or accountability set. Maybe it’s confessing something to a trusted friend or your spouse. Maybe it’s shifting how you spend some of your down time or how you engage online. What we pour in matters – are you spending time with Jesus, in prayer and immersed in his Word?

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Whatever he’s putting on your heart right now, obey! Think of the tiny trickle of the Carhuasanta Creek - that is what becomes the Amazon! Your headwaters are worth guarding - ask Jesus to help you do that important work today.