It’s one thing to try to control your behavior. It’s a whole different ballgame trying to control your thoughts. Especially when we have so many of them and they pop into our heads in rapid fire succession.
I read an article recently that reported the average person has about 60,000 thoughts every day. I’m really curious as to how exactly they arrived at this figure. How do you count your thoughts, much less somebody else’s?
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But methodology aside, the point is that our brains present us with a huge load of mental pictures every minute, every second perhaps. It’s only natural that at least some of them are going to be negative, or scary, or resentful, or frustrating, or petty or maybe all of those things. That doesn’t make you an evil person. It makes you human. And you have plenty of company. We all battle dark thoughts now and then.
King David’s struggle
Even King David of the Bible, whom God used in a glorious way, wrote of his struggle with malevolent ideas in Psalm 13: “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
Clearly we need help with this. And of course the same Bible has a solution. The book of Hebrews states, “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.”
Simple solution?
Sound too simple? Well really, it kind of is. But simple doesn’t mean easy. You get cut off in traffic. Somebody steps in front of you at the checkout line. The ref makes a bad call that goes against your favorite team. You stub your toe on the bathroom door. Somebody posts an opinion on social media that sets you off. Suddenly, your mood darkens and your thoughts get salty.
Try this: Next time somebody does or says something that flips your angry switch, force yourself to ponder Jesus, salvation, heaven, unconditional love, everlasting life, peace, stuff like that.
You’ll find it’s pretty hard to stay in a funk when you’re focusing on God’s blessings. It might take a little time to master this, but that’s okay.
You get 60,000 chances a day to succeed!
EDITOR’S NOTE — Ken Lass is a retired Birmingham television news and sports anchor and an award-winning columnist for numerous publications and websites.
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