The Bible says we are supposed to take every thought captive. That isn’t an easy thing to do. With so much that is pleasant and positive, so much love in the world, why do I (and, I suspect, a great many of us) let negative thoughts creep in? Sad to say, the older I get, the more I have to fight this tendency. I’m working on it.
Here are a few things that may help us. When a worry or a regret or a critical thought comes to call, I imagine slamming a big door on it and yelling, “No.” It’s not a good idea to do this if you’re out in public, though. Two thoughts can’t co-exist at the same time in the same mind. Can it? Those ugly thoughts are hard to get rid of it, but they can be forced away by replacing them with a happy thought or good memory. This takes practice and determination, because the negative thoughts hold on with tooth and nail.
Being busy is another tool to evict those unwelcome ideas. Working among flowers and plants is really good therapy. So is painting or writing or music.
Worry is like a snowball rolling downhill. The past and the future are two things I can do little to nothing about. Regretting or fearing them just makes them bigger and bigger until they’ve grown out of all proportion. Keeping the mind occupied with the positive may not make the problems go away, but they’ll make us happier and better able to deal with them.
A long time ago, our pastor talked about this in a sermon. It’s sort of like having a barrel (us SMS our lives) filled with all kinds of various things. It looks like it’s full to the brim. But when you add water to it (the word of God and other positive things), it forces those negative things out as they float to the top and spill out of the barrel. Sometimes it helps to visualize myself being filled to overflowing with God’s word and God things and forcing all those negative things right out and down the drain.
Very good, Missy. Your pastor was wise and it is a wonderful way of looking at things. Thanks for commenting.