“Thinking is the hardest work there is,
which is probably the reason why so few engage in it!” Henry Ford
My grandmother had an inviting Missouri screened in porch that wrapped around the house. It had a country porch swing and a huge comfortable rocking chair. In the early evening, after supper, my three sisters and I would find our grandmother sitting on that porch, lost in her thoughts after a busy day in the garden, cooking, baking apple pies, canning, fetching water from a well, etc. She would quietly urge us to stop our scurrying and sit, rock and think with her. Her thoughts would wash over us in some of the funniest one-liners I have ever heard! If we took her up on her invitation, we were blessed beyond measure.
“Thinking is the talking of the soul itself.” Plato
Thoughts are a response to our will. We give our thoughts permission to control us. Thoughts can be triggered by our emotions, but where they take us is determined by our will. It has been said that the secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to contemplate whether we are happy or not!
How is your thought-life?
We talk when we cease to be at peace with our thoughts. Talking too much usually follows our thinking too little! One great use of words is to hide our thoughts!
“For as he (she) thinks in his (her) heart so he (she) is.” Pro. 23:7
God defined for us what our thought life should be. We are to fill our thoughts with God’s thoughts; those things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; if there be any virtue…think on these things. Phil. 4: 8 We are not to yield our thought life to selfishness, fears, self-pity, gossip, rudeness, worry…
“For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Mark 7:21-23
“The only reason some people become lost in thought is because it is strange territory to them!” Most moms are too busy to stop and access their thoughts. Between being a wife, mother, cook, nurse, teacher, counselor, taxi-driver and the multitude of pressing E-mails, Instagrams, twitter, Facebook and social, academic and athletic activities,…what mom has any spare time to contemplate anything at all!
“As a woman thinks in her heart so is she, not only embraces the whole of a woman’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of her life. A woman is literally what she thinks…her character being the complete sum of all her thoughts.” James Allen
Are you distressed, in turmoil, confused or sensing loss or failure?
Have your thoughts wandered away selfishly into aimless
fantasies, longings and imaginings?
Take your thoughts captive and focus on His thoughts (His Word)
and be assured of a thought-life that is honoring and pleasing
to God, to your husband and to your children.
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
