Traning Your Mind

Lately I have had some pretty negative things happen in my life. Nothing devastating, but I found myself thinking about them alot. I mean a lot!

A friend of mine was going through a lot of the same things as I was and she sent me this scripture:

Philippians 4:8 (New International Version) Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

And shared with me....True, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy things. When your mind is training to look for such a list the negative become harder to see.

I saw a devotional in the making so I asked her to expound on it for me.

You literally have to retrain the neurons in your brain when you are developing a new thought. So when you intentionally focus on what is good, you are working your neurons so hard that the bad isn’t seen as much. These aren't my thoughts, I’m stealing them from John Ortberg’s book "Me". I am refusing to let the negative take plant in my brain so that I can instead make way for the positive, which what God put out for us to think on, pure, noble, right, etc.

After she sent this to me we decided that Lovely was the word of the day. Focus on whatever is lovely to you. I am looking out my front window as I type and I can see all kinds of lovely-ness. God's creation is all around us at any given moment. My kids, husband, and extended family are all lovely to me. Thinking about God's continuous and never ending blessings is lovely.

So what is lovely to you today? Meditate on those things as you go about your day.