Cultivating a Whatever Way of Thinking
My phone vibrates, letting me know I have a text. I retrieve it from the nightstand and see it is my daughter responding 💗 to something I sent her before falling asleep the night before. I silently pray that she stays safe and well on this brand-new day.
While on my phone, I read Philippians 4:8 from a text I sent myself: 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. I am trying to memorize the verse so I typed it out as a quick, convenient reference should I need a refresher. I have read Paul’s whatevers many times, but I have never explored them deeply nor understood them to the depth that I do now.
Choosing to follow Paul’s counsel is easier than doing it, which is why I have been reading the devotional companion to Joyce Meyer’s Battlefield of the Mind. The subtitle says 100 Insights That Will Change the Way You Think. Insight #36 states, “Think about what you are thinking about.”
Like Paul, Meyer suggests that we concentrate our thoughts on good things, honorable things that will help us grow spiritually. She believes it is our thoughts that affect our attitude, not our circumstances or the people around us. If only I had a filter to examine every thought that enters my brain and keep the dangerous ones out!
This is why I am memorizing the verse above, to help moderate my thoughts. “Please God,” I pray as I sit up and stretch, “help me today to see and think about the good things in life and not the bad.” I know I can think loving, caring thoughts, but I need help rebuking wrong, unkind ones.
Sometimes, my mind is foggy with negative thoughts, and clearing the gloom is a battle. Times like this require me to be consciously alert for cynical thoughts that seep into and flood my mind. I do not have to accept every thought that trickles into my head; I can refuse them, casting out the wrong ones and replacing them with the right ones.
Armed with whatevers, I head to the kitchen to make tea. I drink my Irish Breakfast the way the Brits do, with a dollop of milk, a habit I formed because of my German grandmother who introduced me to tea as a young girl. That first sip every morning is a soothing, satisfying way to start my day and I feel warm and grateful.
My usual breakfast is a bowl of crunchy, organic flakes with raisins, but this morning I am switching it up. I cook up oatmeal adding fresh blueberries for sweetness and color. When I scrape the bowl and lick clean my spoon, the profile of a pink flamingo is revealed and I smile, filled with nourishment and gratitude again.
Concerned nutritionists tell us that we are what we eat. Paul believed that we are what we think, thus he encouraged us to adopt excellent, praiseworthy thoughts. While working on purposely thinking righteous things, it helps me to recite his verse from Philippians when ungodly thoughts occupy my mind.
Training our minds requires that we take regular inventory of our thoughts. Hopefully, by practicing what Paul preaches, I may be able to recycle the litter in my brain and make room for renewable goods and eco-friendly virtues. If I make thinking loving, gracious thoughts a habit, I will reflexively become lovingly gracious.
There are wrongs and hardships in the world I cannot change, but I can change my response to them. Good thoughts create good character and if I govern my thoughts, they will favorably mold my character, and then God’s peace will settle in me. Whatever happens within the remainder of my day, if there is anything worthy of praise, I will think about these things.