Taking back the keys to your heart

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We got a call one afternoon. The trooper on the other end was saying our son had been in an accident. The officer said my son was fine but the car was very damaged so he would need a ride.

Our son was then, 7. I was confused, but as it turns out, so was the trooper. We had loaned our car to a friend, and unfortunately he was involved in an accident. In the confusion the driver’s identity was misunderstood. Our car was totaled, but our friend was safe.

Have you ever loaned your keys to someone and then spent the rest of the day worrying about your poor car? It happens that way in life. We sometimes give the keys to our heart to the wrong people. They bring it back all dinged up and never apologize. The tank is always empty.

Who are you giving the keys of your heart to?

I had a period of life where it seemed to me like a great deal of the input I got from people was negative. If  you have a lot of kids, you can understand the shrink of my social circle. We tend to break something everywhere we visit. We are loud. We don’t have a natural respect for couches and we tend to settle things by wrestling it out on the floor.

During that time I realized I had given the keys to my heart to a lot of people that did not enjoy our company. I took it personally and got offended because I was not doing a good job protecting my heart. I needed positive influences, I needed grace and mercy, I needed someone to laugh and tell me my kids were great. So, I got intentional about my connections.

Did I dump all of my friends? Did I stop talking to my family? No, I just stopped giving power to words that did not define us. I chose to define us. I found a few people that helped me support this new view of my kids. We probably broke their stuff. It happens. The added benefit of my friendship is my replacement policy. They break it, I buy it. That’s a pretty good foundation for a friendship right there.

The take away is that I found some people that would support my new positive ideas. Big goals, or big responsibilities take big support.

[Tweet “Don’t wait until you are crumbling to built a support network of people in you life.”]

Start giving your keys to good trustworthy friends. The kind who will redecorate your life and leave goodies in your fridge.

Do you see how supportive people have influenced your life? Do you see the need to add these kind of people to your current life? I would love to hear about how you either have influenced you.