You ready to let go?

If you are anything like me, then your thoughts don't always go down the right path! I've got a pretty 'broken past', so there are times when my thought life doesn't always conform to the way I believe God wants me to think. There are times when I go down the path of being envious when I know full well that isn't the path God wants me to be traveling. There are other times when I too focused on me to see there is anyone else around me - again not the path God wants me traveling. Yet, there are times when my thoughts go immediately to the path I know God sees as the 'right one'. Instead of envy, I head down the path of sharing the other person's excitement with their accomplishment and rejoice in their new experience. Instead of going down the path that only has eyes focused on me, me, me, I see those around me, finding joy in entering into their lives and participating in all the goodness, kindness, and beauty that is in those individuals just waiting to be brought forth. Contrary to popular opinion, we CAN and MUST choose the path our minds take in this lifetime.

Brothers and sisters, continue to think about what is good and worthy of praise. Think about what is true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. Philippians 4:8 ERV

Do you ever have 'full-on' conversations with yourself? It is not a sign of mental illness, my friend! It is sometimes the 'opening' of a door that allows you to begin to see what has become the object of your attention - your focus. If I cannot be honest about this, my friends, then I might as well stop sharing right now. We all need to have a good 'conversation' with ourselves from time to time. It isn't going to be a habit, but it might just prove to be worthwhile when we are keyed up, frustrated, or just too 'absorbed' in something that is happening to really have a totally clear perspective. When I was going through a particularly bad time at work with an employee, I found myself having these conversations - starting out by talking myself through the issues - then talking myself into the hands of Jesus to help me sort them all out. Why? By talking myself into his hands I was actually placing myself in a position to have my negative thoughts about the individual changed into only seeing what was true about the situation and individual. All the muddle began to settle and I began to see clearly what my response needed to be.

While thoughts aren't always spoken, there is something powerful that happens when they are, isn't there? Are those things always positive and uplifting? Unfortunately, no! There are a whole lot of our thoughts that should never have been thought! They also shouldn't have been spoken! You've heard me say we need to 'think all we say', but we aren't supposed to 'say all we think'. The truth is that we need to learn to allow the Lord to change those thoughts we might not want to ever speak! Whenever he gets that access to our thought life, he is going to make changes, you know. He isn't going to let us dwell on things that are not good and worthy of our continued attention. He will ask us to lay them at his feet and then leave them there. Easier said than done because we all have the tendency to rehearse those things we shouldn't probably rehearse! They are things best left 'un-thought', but which keep coming up time and time again because we haven't let go of them yet. The more we ask God to help us see and think upon what is true, honorable, right, pure, beautiful, and respectable, the more he will ask us to lay down those things that are not! Don't ask for his help to think 'well' if you aren't equally prepared to stop allowing your thoughts to go down those 'not so good' paths. Just sayin!

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