0:00Episode 4198. Guard your heart. Guard your path. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Mom's it's time to rediscover, rejuvenate, and renew whom you are in mind, body, and spirit. Welcome to Create Your Now, Your Best Selfie. The show that help you do just that. Here's your host, Certified Life Coach, Personal Trainer, and Nutritionist, Christian Wardo. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Happy every day. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I want you to let that ring in your heart today. Loud and true. Open up your mind so God can reach your heart. Guard your heart. Guard your path. For those of you who are brand new to Create Your Now, welcome to This Ungottable Family. I am so delighted of your presence. If you already even had the opportunity, you will want to head on over to CreateYourNow.com, where you can learn more and sign up for the Kisses newsletter. To keep it simple strategy, everyday solutions, to live, love, and impact. You know, there's a quiet war happening in everyday life.

1:03And most of us barely notice it. It doesn't announce itself with sirens and alarms. It creeps in through the globe of a screen, the scroll of a feed, the weight of words we never asked to carry. And before we know it, we've wandered. Not dramatically, not all at once, but step by, slow step, little by little. We've drifted from the path God laid out for us, because somewhere along the way, we stopped guarding what matters most. If wisdom has taught us anything, it's this. Guard your heart. Guard your path. Solomon understood this. In Proverbs 4, verse 23, he writes, above all else, guard your heart. For everything you do flows from it. This wasn't about convenience. It shouldn't be about convenience for you. It's not, oh wait, did I get it on my list? Yeah, if it's all my to-do list, I'll get it done. Oh wait, if I remember.

2:05No. It's all above all else. That's what it encompasses. It's everything. And that language is urgent because the stakes are urgent, right? They're high stakes. Everything we do, every decision, every reaction, every relationship, every step forward, or even our step backward flows from the heart. It is the wellspring, right? Our heart is the wellspring. It is the source. And if the source is polluted, the path will show it. I want you to think about that for a moment, because we haven't been. We're too busy scrolling. We're too busy doing the do's. I'm not getting all what we want done, done. And we leave what matters most on the table. So let me ask you this. What flows from your heart right now? Is it peace or anxiety? Is it faith or fear? Is it clarity or confusion?

3:05The answer will likely tell you what you've been allowing in. Now, it may matter a moment to moment. It happens. I know for me, there are times I'm like, oh, I just feel so awesome. I'm like, there's peace. I'm going with it. Next thing you know, three hours later, I'm like, oh, I'm not feeling so great. There's a little bit of anxiety. I'm a little anxious or nervous. You see, how you answer that question, it tells you the heart doesn't guard itself. It absorbs it. It takes in whatever we give it the voices, the images, the opinions, the noise, the distractions, all of it, and it shapes our steps accordingly. If you haven't noticed, we live in an age of unfiltered access. Technology has handed us an entire world in the palm of our hands, kind of freaky, honestly. I remember when our monitors were like, it seemed two feet deep.

4:05OK, they weren't that deep, but they were pretty big. And we had one. Oh, my goodness, it was so cotton-picking heavy. We moved it. I don't know how many times. But it was an awesome monitor. And even the day we got rid of it, it was still working. We didn't just throw it out because we wanted to. And actually, we didn't throw it out. We did donate it because somebody wanted the parts. We didn't need it anymore. It was still working. I'm like, take it. Take it for parts. I can't do anything with it. It's just taking up space on my desk. And I don't have the space. But you see, we have this technology, which is not a bad thing, but it can lead to what? This avalanche of distraction. New 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 us to dwell. None of it is accidental. Every notification, every algorithm, every auto play video,

5:06is designed. Yeah, that means YouTube too. It's all designed to capture your focus, and your focus is a resource of the heart. Now Solomon goes on to say in Proverbs 4, verse 25 and 27, 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, right? When you hear those words. Solomon'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, even sometimes minute by minute. My friend, guarding your heart, means becoming a gatekeeper of your own life.

6:06It means asking, does this belong here? Before you let something in. You know that podcast you listen to on your way in on your morning commute. Hey, and if it's me, thank you so much. But seriously, you need to ask this question. And I would want you to ask this question of our podcast. Is it building your faith or eroding it? Is it a distraction or is it adding to, right? Is it an addition or subtraction? That group checks that conversation, the office, that late night scroll through social media. Is it drawing you closer to who God created you to be? Or is it pulling you further from it? I'm not here to over-dramatize anything, but you know what? Sometimes we need those dramatic questions. We need to ask the ones like, wow, yeah, why? Well, we don't need the drama ones, but we do need the practical ones. And wisdom lives in practicality. The Psalmist knew this. Psalm 119 verse 105, your word is a lamp for my feet,

7:10a light on my path. I can't help but hear the song that Amy Grant would sing. Thy word is a lamp into my feet, and a light unto my path. A lamp for my feet. Not a huge flood light with LEDs all over the place where you can see the entire highway or your entire blueprint for your life. No, 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 wonder why the path feels uncertain. But when you look at all of it, here's the beautiful part. Guarding your heart isn't about building walls.

8:11It'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. My friend, 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. Now at some point, our wisdom must meet our walk. It's not enough to know what's right. It's not enough to underline versus it not along on Sunday morning, or when we're online, or when we're kind of in our small groups, uh-huh. Yeah, and you're kind of off-going. I got to deal with the dinner dishes and dogs. I got to put the kids to bed. Well, wait, I forgot that one day. I need to make sure I add that to my do list. And you're like, oh, yeah, I'm paying attention. We've all been there. Don't try to hide or pretend God can see your heart. He already knows. But you see, if we want wisdom to meet our walk,

9:16then 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 have doubt. To turn off the noise long enough to hear God whisper, this is the way. Walk at it. Go this way. That's where the guardian happens. Not in some grand once in a lifetime decision, oh, I have to do that. No, this is my only opportunity, but in the small daily choices that add up to a life, a purpose, on purpose, for a purpose. So today, take inventory. What have you been letting in? What voices are shaping the way you see yourself? What voices are shaping the way you see your family and your future? And are those voices aligned with the one who created you for something beautiful? Because the path ahead of you is good.

10:18God is good. And 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 needs to 10 miles of greatness, and that's where wisdom meets the walk. And with God lighting the way, nothing is impossible, and not a single step is wasted. Go in peace, be present, be incredible, be you. I'll let you sit very much. I cannot wait to see you on the other side, blessing tags, and lots and lots of love. We'll talk to you real soon. Have a glorious blessed week. Bye-bye. Feeling inspired and ready to train for life and love your journey? Visit createyournow.com for more incredible resources to help you along the way. We'll see you next time on Create Your Now, Your Best Selfie. And remember, always be sure you consult your physician before beginning any health and fitness plan.