Prime Your Heart

I haven't mowed a lawn in about 17 years-- I think. Shorty is adamant that that is his job... and I don't argue! ;) But when I was younger, I did have to do my share of mowing. I didn't mind too much-- except for the blisters on my hands that invariably followed! =P
I know from my mowing days that there is a little black bubble button on (at least some) push mowers, that is called the primer. You push it a couple times before trying to crank the mower, and it sprays in just a bit of gas to give the motor a gentle shove toward starting. More recently (within this decade! ;)) I've had LOTS of experience with the kind of primer that you slap on walls before you begin painting a new color. In both instances, the primer is PREPARATION for the main thing.

And I've been thinking this weekend about priming my heart for worship on Lord's Day. Especially by Saturday evening, I'm really gearing up-- or "priming"-- for Sunday. I plan what we'll be eating, try to make sure that everyone has clean clothes to wear, often do some tidying up in the house. But it is SO EASY to neglect "priming" my heart. You are familiar with the Sundays when you wake up late, there's nothing to eat, everyone needs some article of clothing to complete their attire for the morning, you can't find the hairbrush... or the match for any of a dozen single shoes... And just as you get everyone out the door, there is a shepherding issue...

So how DO I prime my heart to meet with my God and His people??? Well, there is certainly the practical aspect of things. Order in my domestic duties does lend itself to me being able to focus on the state of my heart. But for the past few years, I've made it my habit to turn on either some worship music or a sermon while I am preparing our breakfast. And even more than that, my heart is primed when I am making it a point to spend time daily in prayer and in God's Word.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Isaiah 1:16-18
 
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psalms 51:6-7
 
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
Mark 1:1-3
 
I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise. Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O LORD, according to your justice give me life.
Psalms 119:147-149