mind    (mnd) KEY

NOUN:

1. The human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, and imagination.
2. The collective conscious and unconscious processes in a sentient organism that direct and influence mental and physical behavior.
3. The principle of intelligence; the spirit of consciousness regarded as an aspect of reality.
4. The faculty of thinking, reasoning, and applying knowledge:

Minding your head is pretty much experience that makes you a person and not a chimp. I am here and you are here. Our minds allow us to consider the circustances, the intentions and the outcome.  

I wonder about my thinking and perception. Am I accurate or am i biased and judgemental?

Confessing out thinking and perception dis annuls our failures of perception and bias. Thank God!

Dont Even Think About It !

Matt 6:25-34 - Take no THOUGHT,,,,,

The instruction seems too easy doesn't it. "Dont even think about it", but there is something that I think is missing from this translation. The more literal translation for THOUGHT is anxious or anxiety in each of these verses.

One dictionary provided this definition: full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; Let me ask the question, Who experiences anxiety? Is it a universal feeling or emotion?

I would suggest that no one is exempt. No one escapes its pursuit. In life there are very few things that we can exert direct control over. We cannot control the weather, what other people do or think about us. We cannot control the governments of the world or the influences of evil that wait for tomorrow like we do. We are powerless to stop the seasons and we are unable to stop the tides. All around us systems and organisms grind out around us, over us and through us and we are just part of the land scape

What we can control? What we can influence? What we can determine is are our thoughts. Take if from me I know this is not easy, in fact it is a lifes pursuit. Winning and losing. Building new defenses only to discover new plots to undermine peace and confidence with worry, doubt and anxiety. But it is our mind, not someone else's. We can determine what voice gets the microphone and which hecklers are thrown out of the lecture hall.

There are more instructions on winning this battle than I can share, but they are out there in books, magazines and the internet.

Think about this - take no thought for tomorrow (don't be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious either way.) How can we live in this moment and in this day and not project our worries a full 24, 48 or 72 hours into an unknown future. By the way we cannot control the future either. What we have is this day. What we have is this hour. What we have is this minute. What we have is this very next breath, and thats it. How can we immerse ourselves in this moment and get from it every special blessing and purpose it contains?

I need something to fix my thoughts. Not fix like repair, but to hold them down. To provide a point of reference that I can use when I venture out in my thoughts and that can guide me back. A fixed navigational point. A high point that can be seen from a distance. I said that this is not easy, but that is mostly because we have developed such a love for worry. Love like being in an abusive relationship. If I can stick this out one more day, then I can get on top of it. Everything will change and become right.

Its not going to work like that. If I want to silence the anxiousness in my mind I need to try and make this difficult thing as easy as I can. Jesus said don't worry about what you will eat, what you will wear or where you will stay, because He provides these things for creatures and if he cares for the very needs of birds and flowers how much more will be consider and provide for us.

The thing is I HAVE TO BELIEVE THIS! I have to KNOW that in spite of my fears and even my sin (my grievous sin) Jesus loves me and I cannot be separated from Him or His love. If my thoughts are fixed on this one truth and not chased about then what else will fall into place? I am a simple man with too many failures to count so I have to have simple path to follow. Honestly I think we sometimes try to over complicate things for our ego's sake, for the hope that we will learn or discover something that no one else has yet. But let me do one thing well. Let me hold one truth in its simplicity and power and stop looking for a new or greater revelation.

We are met on a great battle-field

"We are met on a great battle-field" This quote is not original to me. In fact it is part of what is arguably one of the most famous and stirring of public speeches, the Gettysburg address. Scarcely 2 minutes in duration it captures even today the seriousness of the time the nation was suffering through and it lifts our chins to see or at least look for "the better angels of our nature".

This first post should make clear the purpose and shape of this space. It is as the name suggests focused on the Mind and its protection. The mind is a battlefield, with forces set in array waiting for the command to engage. However the battle has really already been fought by the time we choose to attack or withdraw. You see even though the scene is crowded with participants and spectators there is only one combatant on the field. One soul facing an opposition of clouded size and sometimes we face ourselves.

The mind of man is too precious not to defend. It is fragile and exposed and it is well defended and strong at the same time. It is guided by the council of the wise and it is influenced by the words of fools. In the mind great dreams are dreamed and in the mind shadowy terrors exist. This is the created mind. This is the accumulated mind. This is our mind.

Pay little attention of one who claims to know your mind. This is a secret place with winding passages and steep stairs. Some places are ill lighted and others seem to circle back upon themselves. No there a very few who will know your mind. Very few. Even the description of a familiar corner somehow stretches our ability to paint an accurate picture. Who then can know our mind? What to defend? What to nourish? What to to tear down and raze the very memory sowing salt on that place?

One knows. One has mapped the mysteries and has the grand strategy for victory and for fullness. One knows, thought and intent.