Heart to Heart
The moments I treasure most as a dad are the private ones — just one of my boys and me, no front to put on, just honest conversation. Those are the moments where real growth happens. A reflection on Ezekiel 36:24–27.
Ezekiel 36:24–27
Phrases that spoke to me today:
• I will give you a new heart
• I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh
• I will put my Spirit within you
• cause you to walk in my statutes
Applying the Word to My Life:
As a father, I get a lot of time with my boys. I would have even more time if I could, but there is the work on the acreage and around the house, the fundraiser for veterans, movie nights, vacations, hobbies. All of it matters. But the moments I treasure most are the smaller private ones — when it is just one of them and me and we get to talk.
Those are the moments when the world gets out of the way. There is no reason to put on a front. We can just be honest with each other. I get to hear about their hopes and dreams, what they want to change, the kind of person they want to become. We can get into the attitudes and decisions that might be helping or getting in the way. Real growth happens in those conversations — for them and for me.
As they have grown, I have learned that those moments shape them more than any rule or consequence ever could. The quiet conversations do more lasting work than any discipline.
As much as I love my boys, we have a Father who loves us infinitely more. And He wants those heart-to-heart moments with us even more than I want them with my sons. That means being willing to sit with Him. Letting the defenses down. Being honest about where we are and what we want. Listening to what He has to say — through scripture, through the people around us — about what He sees in us that we might not see, or maybe just don't want to see.
Ezekiel carries a promise from God that goes to exactly that place and lets us see where it will take us. Not: follow my rules and I will be pleased with you. But: I will give you a new heart. I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you.
That is not a command. That is an offer of transformation from the inside.
He doesn't want a puppet or someone to order around. He wants his children — willing to sit down and go deeper with Him.
This offer is deeply sincere. God offered us His heart first. We celebrate the gift of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — crowned in thorns, pierced, with light radiating out. God doesn't just ask in words. He promises through His own actions and invites us into this personal space with Him.
God is not trying to manage our behavior from the outside. He is promising to replace the hard, defended, closed-off heart with something alive and responsive — our heart modeled after His own. That is what a heart of flesh is. Capable of being moved. Given freely out of love. Open instead of shut.
If we are willing to go heart to heart with God, that is where the transformation happens.
In the quiet, honest time when the world gets out of the way and it is just us and Him.
And in that space we get to sit with the same question I get to ask my boys: who are you right now — and who do you really want to be?
My Response for Today:
Today I will find one quiet moment to sit with God — not to ask for anything, but to be honest about where I am.