Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life
Proverbs 4:23 NKJV
From the very start, I knew the fate of Meow’s baby meows. Long before before they were born, it was decided that they were to be given away and Meow was to stay. Thus I purposed to guard my heart. You see, kittens are so adorable. Kittens have a way of slowly slipping into your heart and owning real estate. If you give them your attention, they can grow on you like Meow did I.
My strategy was simple, I was to pay them little or no attention at all. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t notice their playful antics. I did ofcourse. Meow’s kittens climbed our trees. They raced themselves in our backyard. They climbed everything there’s to climb, played every game they could invent with each other and occasionally with their mother. For those random moments that I chanced to see them during play time, they sure did warm my heart.
Unlike their mother, Meow, those two kittens were never privileged to experience human love and affection. Infact I could say they feared us. Everytime they saw any of us, they would run. Allow me call them semi-wild kittens because that’s what they became after their mother, Meow, was sent away from the comfort of our cozy home where she had been raised to our backyard upon the birth of her unwanted kittens. Those kittens didn’t go through the upbringing Meow had. Where Meow didn’t know what it meant to sleep out where it is both hard and cold, her kittens knew since the day of their birth. Where Meow crawled onto my laps for a nap or companionship, her kittens could never comprehend.
My Meow’s story is one of from grace to grass. She had to learn how to hustle both for herself and her kittens. Seeking out comfortable spots where they slept each night, seeking shelter on those rainy nights. Once during a rainy season, she shifted her family from the soft grass to a discarded refrigerator in our backyard. We saw Meow become innovative. I believe she sometimes wondered what had happened to her once caring human friends! How could they lock her outdoors? How come they had opened all the comforts of their home to her only to later on take them away? Meow had brought all that to herself. You see when she begot her baby meows, she had carried them to my parents’ bedroom. She sought out a comfortable corner for them. Whenever they relocated them to where they were supposed to be, she took them back where they were unwanted until when enough was enough. Meow together with her kittens where banished to our backyard, never to step foot into our house again until her kittens were adopted.
All the kittens had was each other. They played together. They ate together (Lucky for them, we still provided them with daily meals). They were closely knit; one happy family of three, Meow and her twin meows. I kept the bond I have with Meow but I distanced my heart from her baby meows to guard my heart from crumbling into pieces when the inevitable seperation happened since I knew I am not immune to their charms.
This week on Tuesday, My friend Judith, picked up the brown baby meow. Wednesday night, the cream baby meow went missing from home. My theory is that she could not stand the loneliness that came with the departure of her twin meow. She was close to her “sibling”. Thus I think she went in search of her companion and friend. Until today, she has not returned. Whereas it hurt me a little when I separated Meow’s family by handing over the brown baby meow to Judith, I quickly recovered because I know where he stays( I am not even sure whether it’s a he). My consolation is that each visit I will pay Judith, I will see my Meow’s kitten. I know he will be loved. And oh, Judith is training him to be a house kitten. Judith gave him the name Star Luna. For some reason we failed at naming kittens. Meow was christened Little Lizy but the name has never stuck. Her kittens were nameless. It pained me to see the white baby meow lonely because of the separation but it wasn’t so severe. Right now Meow is home alone and my sister and I have been trying to imagine how she misses her kittens but I know all will be well.
What I am trying to say is that it’s very important for us to guard our hearts from anything that is potentially able to cause us pain, to destroy us. There are life issues that are beyond our control like death and unexpected changes but some we can control. Some pains we bring to ourselves. Some addictions we seek on our own. If whatever we are chasing after, keeping around, giving access to our hearts is not in line with our vision for life, not in line with what the Bible says, we are not being good keepers of our hearts. It’s important for us to frequently examine our hearts and how we are keeping them, how we are guarding them for out of our hearts are the issues of life. What we let in, will eventually come out. Garbage in, garbage out. Life in, life out. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
Fruitful Vine 
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