Tag: thoughts

  • Cancel

    My calendar is peppered with the word “cancel.” It’s easier to erase an appointment if it’s written in pencil. At least the evidence of a failed, re-scheduled, or cancelled date doesn’t hit me in the face every time I view the page. Often I’ll place an un-smiley face nearby to remind me I was none too happy to “X” the event out. Most of the cancels can be traced back to COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.

    This is the third or fourth time an event or series of events originally planned, and looked forward to, is put on hold or not happening at all.

    • Doctor appointment for my mother-in-law to see her new doctor
    • Breakfast/lunch date for my birthday with my sister (still hasn’t happened)
    • Travel down south to visit family

    Disappointment, dashed hopes, plans, dreams gone by the wayside. That’s one perspective—the one I tend to linger in and gravitate to. Woe is me! I can’t do such and such. Go to this place. Have fun.

    The flip side is an angle I must work on to develop and make it my go-to lifestyle and automatic reflex.

    What if this happened (or didn’t happen), plans adjusted, cancelled because of something else underlying? Something bigger or better? Something neither you or I can see or know on the time spectrum.

    Maybe the timing wasn’t the best. If I’d been down south, I’d missed something up north. Who knows? Don’t know if you or I’ll ever know. I’m reminded to be content in whatever circumstances I’m in. Right here and right now. Cancel, no cancel. Re-schedule or no re-schedule.

    For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declared the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9

    What if I were to dwell on these words? My life would be filled with more joy and less stress. I’m see more blessings in the interim vs. just doom and gloom.

    • What ways can you change your thinking around to think less of what you didn’t get to do or be?

    This post has been part of the Five Minute Friday writing challenge group. A challenge to write for 5 minutes on a given topic each week.

  • The way to peace

    Dove with fig leaf (Wikipedia)
    Dove with fig leaf (Wikipedia)

    ‘Be still in My Presence, inviting Me to control your thoughts’ (Sarah Young, Jesus Calling).

    “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you” (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

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  • Search my heart

    “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive [wicked] way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). 

    This type of probing is similar to exploratory surgery. Over two years ago, a neurosurgeon analyzed an MRI revealing a tumor resting alongside my brain. I could have ignored the surgeon’s recommendation for removal of the tumor, but he was the expert and I was not.

    There’s no point in pretending with God. He knows my every selfish, evil, and wayward thought before I even do. I might be able to fool my family or friends, but no thought or deed gets past the all-knowing Creator of the universe. I understand that God “created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). How much more involved in my existence could anyone be?

    Prayer:  Through you and you alone, God, I can receive healing and direction. Point out the error of my ways so I can confess and experience forgiveness. With this degree of involvement, I know I can trust you with my every concern.

    Ask:   Is there some area in your life being scrutinized and watched by God? Are there thoughts that need to be dealt with by the merciful, loving Physician?

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