MIND OVER WHAT REALLY MATTERS

It has taken me several weeks to finish the series on the Shema. Sure, I could have written babble, but to keep my commitment to the Lord about maintaining integrity and transparency in my writing, I found I required a respite. I took a sabbatical of sorts. Little did I know as I began to search and meditate on this last installment, a few challenges would arise that would challenge me in many ways, most of all my mind. Our household faced a stretch of the bumpy road. A loss of Jim’s brother, a few severe health challenges that are not fully resolved even as I write this, continuing to transition into a new faith community, and, last but not least, adjusting to retirement in the coming out of the pandemic phase of life. My mind has been divided, raced at night, robbed of its concentration and focus in the daytime, and sometimes just been blank and bewildered. Then I began to realize that God, who had led me into this series, was helping me “live out the lesson” as He so often does. God was using the circumstances I was in to really help me harness my thinking and transform my mind. Though faced with frenzy, this period has been a call to stay my mind on Him and learn to grow in stillness. Just when I think I Have already learned this lesson, God takes me ever deeper into understanding what a still mind before Him can mean to our relationship. I found how keeping Him and His words of love and hope in mind helped me “mind” Him all the more.

The scriptures are full of helpful instruction, promises, and even commands about what to keep on our minds. God commanded His people in Deuteronomy to think on His precepts continuously and went as far as spelling it out by describing their “comings and goings,” sleeping and rising, walking and working. Does this mean that God wants me to walk around meditating on rules? Not at all. His desire is for me to dedicate my mind to know Him, not just know about Him. This begins with thinking clearly and truly about Him and not having false ideas of who he is in my mind. My spiritual mentor, Ann Clark, would remind me, “make sure you are not serving the God of your mind.” I had trouble with this at first. Sometimes I learned I can create a false expectation and idea of who God is. I can try to anticipate How he will or will not respond, just based on my emotions, my human experience, or entitled expectations. Reading the bible and learning what the truth says about who God is, and moving past being satisfied with an intellectual awareness of his acts and attributes and devoting the mental effort to harness my mind and heart and soul to relate and fellowship with God. This where we are “transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

I read somewhere that the mind has not yet loved until it hands off its thoughts to the heart, where emotions are embraced. In this way, my mind and heart work in harmony so that I can experience an affectionate relationship with the Lord. A dimension of intimacy I will miss out on if I don’t pursue loving the Lord God with all my mind.

In a constantly more automated world, some of my thinking processes are being challenged not to shrink. At the same time, the apathy and ignorance of God are growing in the culture. My mind is bombarded with incoming stimulation from many sources and often runs rampant with everything from worry to fixation. It has taken me a long time to understand the importance of a disciplined mind. I have had to take steps to stop freefalling in my thinking or do what I refer to as mind coasting. I was previously fooled into thinking this type of state of mind was relaxation. Emptying our minds can open the door to more stress, worry, fear, disappointment, and anger. I like to think now of relaxation as an orderly descent into the peace of God where all parts of my being come into agreement. Usually, my mind is the last one to stop its motion. We all experience this as we can be emotionally spent, physically exhausted, and go to bed. Our minds take off like a muscle car, passing all stop signs, recklessly speeding, and showing little regard for our flesh and spirit passengers.

The other issue I have to examine is what have I fed my mind? I have this perspective that often is greeted with rolling of eyes by others, but I feel this deeply. If there is something I know more about than God and His word, then my investments of intellect need adjusting. I am known as the nursery rhyme queen in my family. We often played memory games during travel and tried to rhyme off each other. I usually took first place.

In comparison, how many scriptures do I know by heart? I love college basketball, but if my commitment to game strategy is far greater than my commitment to understanding the workings of God, no wonder I lack wisdom or peace. Of course, God wants me to use my mind to its fullest potential and enjoy the wonderful gifts and experiences He has provided, but loving God with my whole mind says I will keep Him and His perspective foremost in daily life. A doctor I admired once shared that he used the knowledge of anatomy and the skill to care for it from the perspective of how awesome God the creator was. A reminder of how wonderfully and fearfully made we are. He shared that God had called him to this field of science to include God in his life’s work and enjoy daily fellowship with Him. This changed how I viewed my own work life.

The original Shema did not mention the mind, but Christ brought the mind into the spectrum of loving God in His reference to it. This was the most excellent command Jesus said, and he completed the command by including loving my neighbor as myself. To accomplish this, I must first love God with my heart, soul, strength, and mind. I like to think of the lawyer who asked, ” who is my neighbor?’ Luke 10 is a picture of my thought processes. Without the mind of Christ and His ideas and loving Him with my mind, I could spend my life splitting intellectual hairs and getting hung up on the technicalities of my limited thinking. Christ can expand my thinking, and the Holy Spirit can guide me into thought processes that bring insight and revelation. I had a mentally challenged coworker who used to remind me frequently that God smart was always better than people smart. I smile when I think of those words. Loving God with my mind is the only path to God’s smart. This type of knowledge will last forever and not pass away. In the end, it is what really matters.