What I'm Thinking About

"Finally, brothers, 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."  Phil. 4:8

This world can be depressing.  If you listen to the news for any given five minutes, you know that it's mostly bad news.  Gas prices rising (again).  Politicians slandering each other. Public school agendas.  Senseless movie theater killings.  World unrest.  Human sex trafficking.  Famine. Wild extreme weather.  It's bad out there.

Maybe the bad news hits even closer to home.  Marriages crumbling.  Prodigal children.  Poor health.  Sickness/disease. Financial loss/struggle.  Betrayal of a friend.  Being misunderstood or falsely accused. Work stress/conflict.  Sky high college tuition. Unemployment.

Just take a look at your prayer list.  You know what I mean.  Life is hard.  Life is harder when we dwell on the problems and conflicts. We can find ourselves overwhelmed and preoccupied and even depressed, gloomy.  In our house we call it the Johnny Raincloud syndrome.  Being a Johnny Raincloud means are raining on everybody around us.  We rarely see the good in any given situation. Kind of like the glass half-empty. A darkness can settle over us that causes us to view life with a negative tint. Sometimes we can gain a tendency to lose hope, to give up, even to sin.

I'm so delighted to remind you that God knew this could happen to us (and would) and He provided a remedy.  One that should calm and please our souls.  Like the verse above, Paul says this:

"...I'd say you'll do best by filling your  minds and meditating on things

true, 

noble, 

reputable, 

authentic, 

compelling, 

gracious - 

the best, not the worst; 

the beautiful, not the ugly; 

things to praise, not things to curse."  Phil. 4:8

If Paul could choose this line of thinking, while in prison mind you, I think we all can too, no matter how life presents itself to us today.  This makes me happy.  One of the evidences of new life in Christ is joy.  True joy, coming out of our pores, no matter what the social climate is.  God's got this world firmly in His control.  We need not worry.  Every morning I start my day thanking God for holding the world together while I slept.  The truth is, He's holding it together while I'm awake too.  So I choose not to let the bad news of this world (which is very real), color my day, my life.   Instead, I will live these verses and the ones above: "Celebrate God all day, every day.  I mean, revel in Him."  Phil. 4:4

Celebrate God!  And all the good things that come from being in relationship with Him.  So I'm thinking the best, not the worst.  Thinking about beautiful things, not ugly.  Looking for what I can praise God for, not brooding over the things that upset me.  It's kind of like keeping a list of things I'm thankful for (praiseworthy things).  Things that make me smile.

These are a few off the top of my head:

Future in heaven, perfection

When all wrong is made right

God's unlimited grace and forgiveness

Jesus knows me

A son reading his Bible

Word of Life Camp (one of my happy places) - where 2 of my kids are enjoying a week of camp

A faithful, fun husband, generous in all things that make a marriage pleasing

Being invited....anywhere

Friends who listen and love

Friends who are willing to travel to visit us, even though we are the ones who moved.

Biographies of Christian heroes

Anything that makes me laugh

Songs that make my heart sing - mostly MercyMe and Matthew West :)

Cool breezes on hot days

Avocadoes - my latest food love interest
Being inspired by someone else's obedience/good works

Countdown to vacation

Ocean sunrises

Sensing God's pleasure

Texting fun, random thoughts w/friends who know how to be silly

Fall is just around the corner

Christmas is after that

 Well, that was easy. Only took a couple of minutes.  Gracious, true, excellent, praiseworthy thoughts.  Try it.  Guaranteed smiles.