Growing up, life was made up of practicing.
In the beginning, I practiced acting big and keeping up. It’s what little sisters do. I also had to practice to say my r’s correctly. (My name back then was Cawwie.)
I remember my mom trying to get me to practice piano, but it never stuck. I was way more interested in practicing back walk-overs on the gymnastics beam that my dad had built outside for me.
In middle school and high school, it was sports of all varieties. An overhand serve in volleyball. Free throw shots in basketball. And always a standing back flip. These things took a lot of practice.
But now that I’m older … now that the letter “r” has been mastered and a back flip is no longer necessary … what do I practice now?
Over the next four weeks, I’m going to be thinking through four simple things that I want to practice regularly. Some I’ve been practicing for awhile. Some are fairly new. But all of them, when practiced with intention, have the potential to change the shape of our hearts, our days and our lives forever.
Care to join me?
How much thought do you give to the words rolling around in your head? Have you ever considered that your thoughts are actually what frame your life? That your thoughts are what guide your days?
“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Follow the chain reaction that begins in the mind and you get the very stuff that our lives are made of. It makes sense, then, that any deep change in how we live begins with a deep change in how we think.
Proverbs 14:8 says,
The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.
A wise woman pays careful attention to her ways. And since our thoughts guide our ways, it is wise to pay attention to our thoughts.
“Consider your thoughts and attitudes – the pattern of them, their shape and drift. Are they leading you where you want to go? Plot their course. Will they land you in a place you care to live? If not, change your mind.”
Literally, change your thinking.
If your mind is full of noise, this practice may seem overwhelming. How does one sift through it all? Don’t let yourself get stuck there.
Take a moment right now, and pray this prayer:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24
“Invite Jesus to search you and reveal one habitual thought, one attitude of your heart, that is misleading you. It may be shame, a sense that you must keep hiding, keep avoiding the light. It may be pride, or a temptation to judge others, or it may be an insecurity that drives you into envy or rivalry. It may be just the sense of insignificance – that no one see you, not even God.
It may be how you see God.
Whatever it is, ask God to change your mind.”
{Quotes from Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God}
This week:
Practice thinking about what you’re thinking about.
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