Growing up, my grandmother often gave me words of wisdom. She would quote these “tidbits” to me when she desired to keep me from doing something wrong. So the phrase, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop” was impressed into my brain quite often.
Living on a farm meant chores from early morning until late evening. So I thought there was not a lot of time for my mind to be idle. Nevertheless, when I wanted to relax and do nothing there was always someone like my grandmother to give me a reminder of not being idle.
They believed that if you were not doing something constructive you were inviting Satan into you life. Years later, I realized that it was not continual work that kept Satan away but the grace of God through His son Jesus. Being an “ADHD” personality, I keep moving most of the time, and my mind does not take many breaks.
Even when I am still and take time to meditate on the Word of God, my mind wanders into what I need to be doing in the next five minutes, next five hours, or the next five days. It is though blogs like this that I can focus on my relationship with the Lord more than I ever have before.
Therefore, I have learned to force myself to spend time incorporating Philippians 4:8 through nature. Being outside and listening for the Lord helps me to grow and look to the future with faith and hope. For me, everything that the Lord created brings this verse into focus. So to sit and watch the cloud formations, the squirrels playing in the trees, the new blooms of spring, or to observe a snowfall in the mountains, always brings this verse to the forefront of my life. Psalms 46:10 says it best when I am seeking the Lord, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
In the Disney movie, “Hook” do you recall what it was that made Jack fly? It wasn’t a feather like Dumbo thought, or pixie dust. It was happy thoughts.
Today try and focus on the “happy” thoughts of life. Focus on what is pure, lovely, and good. You do not have to go far.
Just set your mind on things that are worthy of giving the Lord praise.
Then give Him the praise!
