Sarah Geringer - Transforming Your Thought Life: Christian Meditation in Focus

We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 CORINTHIANS 10:5

W hen Im doing something simple, like driving to pick up my children from school,my unchecked thoughts are often like wild monkeys, shrieking while they jump frombranch to branch.

I might start with thinking about weekend plans, then alight on a random memory fromgrade school, then nurse a grudge about someone I havent seen in six years. Halfwaythrough my task, Ill wake from a jumbled thought fog and think, How did I get here?!?

Women are experts at jumping from topic to topic. Its a God-given gift we have inmaking meaningful connections. Authors Bill and Pam Farrel describe the working ofwomens brains as being like spaghetti noodles, twisted and looped all around oneanother. They write, Every thought and issue is connected to every other thoughtand issue in some way. Life is much more of a process for women than it is for men.

By the way, they describe mens thinking like little boxes in waffles. SometimesI wish my wild-monkey/spaghetti mind worked more like that!

One of our greatest gifts has a dark side. Our spiraling, swirling thoughts canoften end up in bad places. If you didnt already know this, I doubt you would bereading this book.

If my thoughts were visible and I had a magnifying glass to peer into my brain, Idprobably find my careless thoughts also look like a junk drawer, crammed with everyimaginable thing from various sources.

I just opened my real-life junk drawer. Its primary function is to hold pens andpencils, where many dozens reside. But other flotsam and jetsam from the past twodecades have ended up in the drawer too. Heres what I found:

• A light switch for the wall
• An unsheathed razor blade
• A long distance calling card, circa 2002
• Several keys to who knows what
• A tube of lip balm thats missing a lid... into the trash it goes!
• Microcassettes for a voice recorder I used during college lectures
• A jewel-shaped, ten-sided die for some board game
• Replacement plastic flowers for my hummingbird feeder

These items represent many of my unexamined thoughts. Some thoughts are out of place,like the light switch. Some are downright dangerous, like the razor blade. Somehave outlived their purpose, like the calling card. Some thoughts are disgusting,like the lip balm.

Why dont we tend to our thought lives? Its because they arent seen by anyone else,same as the junk drawer. We keep hiding messy thoughts away because we think theydont matter.

We undervalue the importance of our thoughts. Our focus turns to our problems withoutrealizing the roots of those problems exist in our ways of thinking. Our thoughtsturn into actions, whether good or bad. When the majority of our thoughts are negative,our quality of life suffers.

Have you ever quit a job that you hated? I did that not so long ago. When I movedaway from that toxic situation, I realized how much it had affected my thinking.Months after I left, my thoughts would be riding a furious, bitter train in randommoments. I was shocked to discover the strong grip that negative environment stillhad on my mind, and I had to meditate on Gods Word to put those thoughts to rest.

Stepping back and examining your thoughts is called meta-cognition, or thinking aboutthinking. In the beginning of this thought-life transformation process, well thinkabout all kinds of thoughts. The overarching description of these thoughts is careless,or unexamined. To have victory in your thought life, you must think about the qualityof your thoughts.

I need to warn youthis transformation isnt going to be easy. Youll be fightingyourself and an unseen enemy. You may even be fighting others in this battle.

If youve ever started an exercise or diet program, you know how difficult it isto persist in a new, healthy habit. Your flesh seems to war against you. I rememberdoing the cabbage soup diet in college, which lasted about three days. On the fourthmorning, I caved and ate a chocolate chip granola bar instead of soup for breakfast.No other granola bar had ever tasted so good! My flesh was crying out for carbs,and the perfectly healthy cabbage soup got tossed.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 26:41, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.Paul describes the war between his flesh and his spirit in Romans 7:1525. Your thought-lifestruggle is real, and you are your own worst enemy.

Nothing strengthens your mind more than meditating on Scripture. Gods Word willcover your thoughts like a shield. If youre fighting poor thoughts, you can cryout to God for help in this process. He will strengthen you with custom-fit versesfor your battles.

As soon as Satan finds out you are starting on a journey toward thought-life transformation,expect a battle. Your mind is the main place where the enemy and his cohorts wagewar against you. Ephesians 6:12 describes our battle like this: For we are not fightingagainst flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseenworld, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in theheavenly places ( NLT ).

Satan slings ugly, hateful, doubtful, unforgiving, and condemning arrows into yourminds battlefield. The flames of those arrows alight on the tinder of your unexaminedthoughts and catch fire, which instantly blazes through your camp.

If youve ever had a problem that you just couldnt conquer, its probably becausethe enemy has set up camp in a corner of your mind. This is also known as a stronghold,and you can only remove it with Gods help. Well talk more about that in a minute.

Many of my destructive thought patterns have been influenced by the negative expressionsof others. For years, I allowed their destructive actions and words to infiltratemy thinking.

Remember the job I left? One person I worked with was condescending. This personsactions and words planted seeds of doubt, anger, criticism, and self-condemnationin my thought life. Too often, those thoughts overtook my mind like weeds and I beganto feel discouraged, which had a negative impact on my work. Other people will behappy to influence your thoughts for the worse to gain power over you.

You may also have people in your life who are naysayers. Others may tell you thingsin a conscious or subconscious attempt to hold you down. I understand what abusefeels like, and the messages, whether silent or spoken, are strong. They creep theirway into your thought life, sabotaging your attempts to live the life God wants foryou.