Thinking well

The Bible says to “think on these things” and it gives us a list:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8

Here is a little video by Preston Morrison about Rumination. Check it out! This was really good.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBCCt4GyafI/?igsh=MXU5NWRqaDNpY2R4bw==

Rumination is from the word ruminate it is the act of chewing the cud, a term used to describe when a cow chews and chews the grass it eats. To ruminate is to chew on something over and over and over again. This is often used in a meditative way. And if we are not careful, can be dangerous to our psyche.

Something Intriguing

I was having a conversation with a friend about sadness. We touched on how difficult it is to just let sadness be felt without trying to change our emotions into something else. The prominent way of the world says, “we are supposed to be happy all the time.”

She shared with me that the Lord gave her a different angle of understanding for sadness.

Are you ready for this?

Sadness is an expression of love.

Yeah… love. Love grieves when hurt comes. But also what does that say about our “loves?”

Sidenote for ponder: What kind of things cause us to become sad?

The first mention of sad in the Bible is in Genesis.

Genesis 40: 6-8 And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸ And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”

Huh… I find that very interesting that the first mention of sad is about not understanding something. That makes sense to me because when I don’t understand something, I worry about what it could mean, and worry is a type of fear and being afraid makes me sad that I am not able to “understand.” Because understanding often brings a kind of confidence with it.

Huh… this is kind of leading into the way people will go to great lengths to act like they are not sad and that they do have it together. But behind closed doors, they are sad and isolated in their fears and worries. So does that mean that when we love “knowing” or “being right” and we are not we hide our sadness or otherwise exposing our pride?

Even in the verses above it says, “Do not interpretations belong to God?”

If God is not the source of where we get understanding of our sadness – perhaps we are loving something else than Him?

Does that make sense? Let me know what you think!

Something interesting

My pastor introduced me to a book called, “At Your Best” by Carey Nieuwhof. In this book it helps you discover where your energy zones are. When are you at your best. For me, that is 530am to about 1030am. My brain is ON and ALIVE at that time. So, I do most of my writing during those hours. This is also when I do research or find interesting things.

One of those things this week was a YouTube video about why people don’t read anymore. It had a lot to say about the school system and legislation but the part that caught my attention was the point that because of the changes over the years from phonics-based learning to read to whole language reading that many college age students have been telling their professors that they can’t read a whole book in one week.

When was the last time you actually read (not audible listened) a whole book? I’ve read 4 actual books, 1 digital book, and 9 actual books of the Bible this year. The rest have been audible. Not too shabby. But it brings up the question about how we are shaping our attention, learning, and understanding. Are we skim consuming sound bites, clips, and excerpts or are we reading, chewing, and learning? And just to ask it, “What is the effect of skim consumption of information?”

• distraction prone
• shallow understanding
• false sense of knowing
• scattered thinking

That is just to name a few. I think I am somewhat in this category and that I feel a sense and call to focus my time and attention and social media consumption in the area of learning and growth to a specific set of things.

The Challenge Then

How can I take what I hear the Lord speaking, what I am learning in church through the series of messages in the year, and couple it with supplemental reading for deeper understanding and growth?

HMMMM (lightbulb)

Thanks for listening,

Starla