Devotional Thoughts: Battling Thoughts

Some days are easier than others to think on these good things. Today, while driving home to eat lunch I felt someone staring at me while I was stopped at a light waiting on it to turn green. I glanced left to explore what I was sensing. There stood addict parents of one of my previous foster kids. His mother jeered at me with hatred and lifted up her hand with her middle finger and thrusted it towards me repeatedly with every angry cell in her body. I smiled, waved and drove on. This has happened many times before but I hadn’t seen them in so long I thought they had moved on somewhere else. I know they’re unstable, sometimes homeless, and sometimes incarcerated. They sadden me.

I know I didn’t take away their children. I merely cared for their child for a time. I loved him, I fed him, I tried to meet his needs. This child has suffered much in his life. Despite these things I continue to be the object of this mom’s anger. I know she is angry because she is hurt and her addiction is probably a coping mechanism.

So! Am I thinking about what’s pure, honorable, lovely and commendable at this time? No. I am thinking about the great amount of hurt, anger sand evil that’s in the world. This can be what our minds default to, especially in circumstances like I experienced today. We have to train our minds towards these things that Scripture instructs is to think about. Have you thought about something lovely today?

If I find myself dwelling on negativity, evil, hurt and anger I’m giving those things permission to take root in my life and grow. This is dangerous because we can wake up one day to the realization that we have become someone we don’t even like. We all need God’s help in these things. These things can turn into anxiety, addiction, murder, bitterness, a thirst for revenge and so on.

I choose to think about what’s honorable, lovely, pure, worthy of praise and is excellent today. I have the opportunity to love on students in a tutoring program momentarily that I’ve invested in for years. Lovely thought for today is that some of our students are living out their faith they discovered with us. Some are in college. Some of them need us today. This is lovely! I have opportunity to keep pressing on in goodness whether I’m misunderstood or not. God sees. God knows and I am content with that!