Outlook

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14 ESV)

Have you ever noticed how quickly your mouth betrays the musings of your heart? The longer you dwell on something in your mind, mulling it over and allowing emotion to become attached to the idea, the more the idea has a way of "spilling over" into your words and actions! There is no disadvantage to this as long as those musings are pure, kind, and Christlike in nature. As soon as they turn inward toward the self-demands of our flesh, the worse those musings become!

John Maxwell reminds us that it is our attitude that others feel, even though they hear our words. That is why tone of voice so often betrays the true intent of the heart. There is not denying a begrudging or peeved attitude - it comes across in ones words just through the tone in which they are spoken. This makes it even more important for us to determine the right stuff for us to "meditate" upon - those things that become the musings of our heart.

When we "meditate" according to scripture's use of this word, it means we mull things over and over until we find the "meat" in it, or we become totally absorbed in it. If these meditations are on the things of God, such as a portion of scripture or some good word we have been taught by the pastor, these tend to produce things of high value or reliable worth. There is an ability for these musings to bring about change - especially when it comes to needing to have our attitude adjusted in any way!

While it may be kind of hard to meditate upon God's Word all day long, or sequester oneself away forever, it is possible to entertain good thoughts, allowing these thoughts to spill over into right actions and eventually those right thoughts and actions produce more. Whenever we find ourselves musing upon the things that are negative or anxiety-ridden, we are going to see ourselves making some pretty "wrong" decisions - we will act out of that negativity or anxious fear. When we meditate more upon God's grace and his love, we find these things give us a better "outlook" in life. 

Outlook is then determined by that which we determine to be our "inward look". What we dwell upon the most or the longest will determine our outlook in life. Just sayin!