I have been following with interest the discussion at Blest with Sons regarding our thought life. One thing I am learning is that there are certain areas I have to tell myself, "Don't go there." Meaning, right now if I "go there," I'm going to go down a road of negative thinking that I am not prepared to handle. This may be something as innocuous as a real estate website or homes catalog. How so, you ask? Well, if my house is in it's typical looking-like-a-tornado-hit-it mode and I'm feeling like it's closing in on me, surfing the real estate website that night will only serve to further contribute to that closed-in feeling. Likewise, if I'm feeling overwhelmed at work, it's probably not a good day to be searching the want ads for another job. That's because doing do would tend to open up a whole can of worms about my career capabilities.
That's not to say I avoid dealing with issues or act like they don't exist. I certainly do enjoy dreaming about a new house and I do plan to get into a different career at some point. It's just that I've started to recognize that allowing myself to think about whatever, whenever, will almost certainly lead me down a wrong path. It's almost as if these thoughts are weighted, and thrown into the deep blue sea of my thought life, they are certain to sink to the bottom, dragging me with them.
That said, this reiterates to me the value of praise and worship. The practice of purposefully focusing on the never-changing attributes of God, and his marvelous love towards me seems to help counteract these negative thoughts by ensuring that there's not much room left for these thoughts to take hold and drag me down. Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
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4 comments:
You're so right. I have noticed that looking at catalogs just makes me want to buy things that I don't really need, and probably wouldn't know what to do with if I did get. Good point.
There is so much to be said for being diligent about where we let our minds linger. It can be difficult for me - I often feel like I'm drawn to that negative thinking... so I really like what you said about praise and worship. When we fill our minds with good, there's no room left for all that other stuff.
I loved your last paragraph! That's exactly the secret, I think, to that! Fill our hearts and minds with the Lord and it doesn't leave room for our thoughts to linger on the negative. Excellent, Dianne!
Fabulous counsel, I need to hear it, and could send this on to several others. Negative, comparison thinking is generally the easy way to go; I'll remember next time I'm headed that direction, praise and worship instead. xoxo
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