Articles
You're Thinking
Too Much!
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Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)
25. Therefore I tell you, do
not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your
body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and
the body more important than clothes? 26. Look at the birds of the
air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than
they? 27. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
How much
time do you spend over-thinking? I know- we don’t like to think of
it that way. We call it analyzing, meditating, ‘figuring things
out’ and other euphemisms that cover up what we are really doing:
thinking too much. How do you know when you’ve over-thought
something? Here are some signs – 1. You can’t get that problem or
situation out of your mind; 2. As much thought as you’ve given to
it, it still does not make sense to you or 3. You still
haven’t figured out what to do. If you find yourself experiencing
any of these things, you have probably given something way
too much thought.
Why do we do
it? God equipped us with minds because we need to be able to
‘figure out some things’ for ourselves. Our minds were meant to be
the logical conduit that connected spirit to body. Our spirits
know, our minds think and our bodies act. But
many times we find that our body is trying to control this
triumvirate. We may pray about some things, but we think
about all things. Somewhere, in the back of our minds, we
are convinced that if we spend enough time problem-solving
and analyzing, we will figure it all out. Well, let me set your
mind at rest about one thing at least: YOU WILL NEVER HAVE IT ALL
FIGURED OUT. So stop trying. Now take a deep breath. Rest your
mind. And get ready to move on.
We will
never have it all figured out, simply because God did not make the
world, in all its many implications and variations, easy enough for
you or me to ‘figure out’. There is only one All-Knowing, All-Wise,
All-Seeing One and I’ll give you a hint who: it ain’t us. But this
is not cause for despair. As a matter of fact, you should start
rejoicing and rejoice now! Because the weight of the world really
is not on your shoulders, you don’t have to have all
the answers so you can be free of all that needless worry and
thought!
Once
you’ve accepted that fact, you’re ready to let all that
responsibility go and use your mind for the purpose for which it was
intended: to think, but within reason. When you encounter a
problem, you should always pray. And you can give it some
thought. You can ponder for a while why it happened, what it meant
to you, what you learned from it and decide whether or not you can
do something about it. If you can do something about it, do it. If
you cannot, then pray some more about it, then let it go (to God)!
Then move on with your life. And don’t be discouraged if that same
problem re-appears – this ‘letting go’ process might be ongoing -
until you get the hang of it. If a problem re-appears in your
mind, let it go again and then STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. And the best
way to stop thinking about something is to start thinking about
something else.
So
think about the good things in your life. Think about the things
for which you are grateful. Allow your thoughts to wander to some
of the more pleasant experiences of your life. Thank God for those
moments and then recall them in detail. Linger over each moment,
savoring it as if it just happened. Now take a look around you
right now. What do you have to be happy about right now.
It may take a minute of thinking, but then you might recall that,
while you are not happy with your job, it’s kept you in Gucci and
Prada, so it’s a good thing that your bills are being paid. Or you
can recall your gratitude that your parents still take such an
interest in your life (instead of complaining that they call way
too much). Or you can think about how you woke up this morning and
that migraine you were battling last night finally went away. Or,
you can find contentment in the fact that, though your problems
still exist, you are here another day to get it right, make amends
or make it better. And how it’s all good….
So stop
over-thinking! Think something through once, not twice, three times
or all night long. Move on with your life and allow the beauty of
it all make those problems, situations or circumstances just fade
into the background.
Be Blessed!
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