Fortress of the Heart

Love, the greatest command, is something so pure, and yet, at times, so complicated. Why? The reason is because we are loving other human beings; each with their own intricacies. Our society, and how we interact with others, bring us challenges regularly. A new coworker, neighbor, or in-law infuses your life with a host of standards to be defined. Will this person have a large impact on your life or play a small role? What will you do when circumstances change in a relationship and you must adjust how to interact? How do you manage something as simple, and simultaneously confusing, as love in all its varying degrees?

There have been differing opinions on how many types of love exist for a person to experience. The Ancient Greeks had anywhere from four to eight words for love, the Bible recognizes four to five, and modern psychology varies depending on whose paper you read. There are even quizzes on identifying a personal love language. The need to recognize the different categories in your own relationships and manage those interactions can vary from person to person. However, all can benefit from reflection in the health of their attachments.

In this book we explore the heart in the allegory of an architectural structure, a fortress. This is approached from a biblical viewpoint but is a concept that can be widely used. Just as Jesus spoke in parables to make his messages easier to grasp, the allegory is designed to bring reasoning to relationships.

This concept first came to me in my own walk through counseling. By meditation on scripture and the moving of The Holy Spirit, over the years, many truths have been revealed to me in the light of this premise. You the reader, will be asked to imagine, in your mind’s eye, what this looks like to you. You may also wish to evaluate the relationships in your own life in terms of the “levels” defined here. I acknowledge that asking you to consider your relationship in terms of their classification may seem antiseptic. However, taking a step back to assess your various situations can help to shed light on relationships that maybe should have transitioned elsewhere, but haven’t. So let’s outline the structure of this Fortress of the Heart.