Saturday, April 29, 2017

Oh, the Thinks I Think

Oh, the thinks you can think! 
Do you remember this rhyme?
It's a Seuss poem that 
Celebrates the wonders of your mind!

I've thought quite a bit about thinking this week. I'm not sure whether it was the heavy amounts of rain or the change in seasons or the stage of my pregnancy, but my mind has been a whirling dervish of thoughts lately.

I can't seem to shut them off. I think about everything. A list for your amusement (and maybe even your commiseration):


  • did I feed the cats?
  • is the garage going to flood?
  • we need to spray the yard for bugs.
  • I don't read enough to my four-year-old
  • I wonder if I need a better quality pre-natal vitamin?
  • should I change my Facebook privacy settings?
  • I need to plant a garden!
  • does this mole look funny?
  • my house is too cluttered...
  • I must immediately rid my family of half of our possessions!
  • we need to have a cook out for the twentysomethings in our church.
  • how long do lemons keep?
  • let's paint the house white!
  • I hope so-and-so doesn't think I'm mad at them.
  • I can't remember the last time I cleaned my Keurig...
  • Is my Keurig slowly killing me?



You get the gist. A whirling dervish. A tornado of constant thought and activity leaving trails of debris and cluttering my mind.

Indeed, I may have the entire cast of Seussical: the Musical performing a litany of worrisome songs up in my brain:

Clean the coffee maker
You silly oomph!
Germs are slowly growing
and killing you, to boot!

I'm fairly certain this is not the freedom my Jesus wants me to live in. In fact, He has commanded me to not worry. To not ask these silly questions, but to seek after God and His Kingdom. 

"Just chill," says Jesus Christ, Savior of the World.

How do I do this? Chilling is hard for me, Lord. You have made my incredible brain. You know how it is wired. You know it so well, in fact, that you knew to tell me while you were walking on the earth  to stop worrying and to settle down.

Like I said, I've been thinking about thinking. And I think I have found a way to help us calm the storms of our mind. Lean in now, you don't want to miss this.

Colossians 3:2 says, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthy things."

Scripture is giving a clear command of what "thinks" should be taking up space in our brains, things above. Before we get into what these things are, let's focus on the second part of that verse. Earthly things

I bet you can help me add to this list of what is considered an earthly thing. In no particular order: wealth, power, success, fame, ALL THE THINGS I COULD BUY, impressing people, pleasing people...

I could go on. Maybe some of these things don't seem sinful...and you'd be right. For example, Disney World is my jam. I would go to Disney World twice a year if I could. It is truly the most magical place on earth. I see the gates with Mickey welcoming me and my heart starts to sing a little bit. 

But guess what? The House of Mouse is totally an earthly thing. So what do all these earthly things have in common?

They don't matter. Hear me when I say this....They. Don't. Matter. 

This is why Paul tells us in Colossians to not put our focus on these fleeting, momentary fillers that don't make one bit of difference in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So if these are the things I shouldn't be focusing on, what are these things above that should garner all my attention?

Heavenly things, darling. Eternal things. The things that actually do make bits of difference in the Kingdom of Heaven. Things like loving others, the solid rock truth of Jesus, praise and thankfulness to a living God, the spreading of the gospel of Jesus, generosity, faithfulness, perseverance, and hope. Wonder that such a great and mighty God cares about the thoughts in my head.

Heavenly things sound, well, heavenly, don't they?

Your beautiful brain was made to think about wonderful things, good things, eternal things. 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 
Philippians 4:8

I hope you'll join me in this new way of thinking. I hope that when the tornado of worrisome activities start to circulate in your mind you'll stop and give several minutes of focused attention on the things that actually matter. 

Oh, the thinks I was made to think:
Bright things! New things!
Good things! True things!
I shall turn my worries into praise
I won't waste my thoughts,
Not for one single day!

The next time our brains are eager to clutter themselves with earthly things, will you join me in saying no? Let's make an effort to not waste time with things that just don't matter. Let's set our minds on things that do.





Wednesday, April 19, 2017

I Think a Change Will Do You Good

I used to love reading celebrity gossip. I mean, it was my jam. I knew who dated whom and when, where they lived, where they went on dates. I could tell you who had won the Oscar and who had designed their dress. The Golden Globes were my Super Bowl. Dusty knew this evening was sacrosanct to me and I was NOT to be disturbed. I frequented a celebrity gossip website...daily. One of my favorite websites was a "blind" gossip website where they would share horrible stories of celebrity misbehavior and we mortals would guess who it was. Now, I never participated in these conversations. I was above that....

Geez. Even writing this makes me cringe with sadness. It's okay if at some point in reading the previous paragraph you judged me a little. I mean, I'm reading it about my own self and going....Oh, gosh. Such loser behavior.

So why do I share the shame of my past as a celebrity stalker? Because I want to prove something to you:

People change.

A few years ago, I looked at Dusty and said, "Did you know it's been almost a year since I've bought an Us Weekly?"

To which he admitted he had completely noticed. See, my sweet husband always called me out on my bad habit. God had been knocking on the door of my heart about this gossip habit, too (yes, talking about famous people you've never met is gossip), but I swept it under the rug. Pretending it wasn't that big of deal.

I never made a conscious decision to lay down the magazines and the gossip, it just sort of happened. One day, I just didn't care all that much anymore.

And, coincidentally (or was it?), it happened around the time I began Bible study. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't spending all my time studying the Word. I still had free time, still had hobbies. But this gossip thing no longer had a hold of my heart, and honestly, I forgot about it.

This ugly habit went away when I started filling my heart with God's wonderful Word...and I didn't even notice.

I realize you may think indulging in celebrity gossip isn't a "big deal" kind of sin. But it is. Gossip in any form and partaking in salacious stories are not God's best for me, filling my brain with details of lust and cheating and selfishness.

So I tell you all this in order to tell you this: God's Word will change your heart. In little bits and pieces and in great chunks. Sometimes noticeably, but most of time in quiet whispers and in a soft remolding of your heart.

Romans 12:2 tells us, "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind."

So how do I renew my mind?

By coming to Him and His Word. Ephesians 4:23 discusses putting off our old selves and doing what Jesus taught. Jesus taught us that the ways of this world lead to sin and death.

For crying out loud, how we need to put these things away. These sins that drive us farther and farther from the perfect peace God intended we have. We need to renew our minds by leaning in to His Word which renews both our mind and our heart. We learn to think and feel in new ways. 

Sometimes this new thinking is loud and thunderous and instantaneously life changing. But most of the time it's still and small and blink-and-you'll-miss-it. One day you'll wake up and say, "Hey, I don't do that anymore..."

And it's Jesus.

Let me encourage you today if you're desperate to change in some way and you're in God's Word, but it's just not happening:

It is happening.

If you are in Jesus, even if you're dealing with the same old issues, you are being made new. You may fight the same sins, but I guarantee you they are not the same in frequency, intensity, or the length of time between temptation. The struggle of the sin fight you are in is evidence itself of a great work God is doing in your heart.

My friend, please don't give up in the fight, believe that He is accomplishing an amazing work in you.

And then one day, you'll be scrolling through a legitimate news website and see a tiny vignette concerning, ahem, a Kardashian, and you'll think hmmm...wonder what that's about? You'll go to click the link, but then, your hand will stop. You just don't click because you just don't care.

And you'll sit in your kitchen and think, huh...this Bible thing really does work.