“Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”

Proverbs 28:14 KJV

This Saturday, I went shooting with a great teacher. I learned a lot, but there was something that blew my mind, my arrows. The fletching of the arrows are the three colored top parts of the arrow. Two of them are the same color, while the other one is a different color. On a traditional arrow they are feathers.

The reason why is because a feather gives more and the bristles of the feather slide off the arrow rest. Nowadays though, many new arrows are made with a light plastic that is harder and is easier to maintain. I even bought some for my first arrow

I learned the basics and I sharpened my aim with the plastic arrows, but it was so frustrating getting them on target. I tried different ways to make aiming easier, but I was still way off to the side just to get on target. Then I learned on Saturday, the problem with my aiming was not my eyes or consistency, but the fletching of my arrows. While plastic is easy to maintain and lasts longer, the problem with plastic arrows, they don’t give.

My teacher showed how the plastic was hitting off the bow, kicking the trajectory to the side. But the bristles of the feather fletching slid right off. When shooting the feather arrows, I immediately noticed the difference when I released and it hit the target a little above where I aimed. It was so satisfying when the arrow hit the target. After that, it was so much easier to aim and they ended up on the target a lot more.

If we let our hearts harden because it’s easier to go through life hardened, only caring about yourself, we kick against God’s way. But God loves us so much that He will work with us. He will change His aim, try and try again to get us. But if we stay hardened, we won’t be the ones that get frequently used.

But a feathered heart will go with God’s way. It can be relied on. Now, a feathered heart may take more time to care for and is more fragile, but we’re in God’s care. We have to trust Him to take care of us. With feathered hearts God can easily take us to the target. He will not let us fall or shot us astray. It may look weird to us, but think of it this way. When shooting an arrow, the arrow doesn’t see the target, you do. God sees us and where we need to land. He will make sure we get there the most efficient way possible, if we let Him. If our hearts are feathers.