Skip to main content

Be Careful

             Only be careful for yourself and watch over your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. (Deuteronomy 4:9)

If we are going to live conscious lives, we need to figure out what we should be conscious of, because being constantly conscious about everything isn’t possible and, even if it were, it would be exhausting. Today’s passage suggests that we should be conscious of our consciousness, mindful of our minds, and aware of our awareness. We should pay attention to our attention and care about our care. It sounds odd. It sounds OCD, but it all comes back to the ideas of self-control, diligence, mastery, and being present. We’re to watch over our souls. That means every aspect of our lives. The focuses of this passage seem to me to be the thoughts and feelings. By extension, we’re to watch over our memories, expectations, hopes, and beliefs.

I’ve written before of the fact that I sometimes don’t realize that I’m depressed until a month or more down the line when I find myself crying over nothing again. I have also caught myself worrying, and when I asked myself what I was worried about, I couldn’t come up with an answer. I was worrying about nothing. Now that’s an accomplishment. Most of the time when I finally realize I’m worrying, I have something I’m worried about.

This is where a journal becomes useful because it tends to draw one’s attention to what one is feeling or thinking. More often than not, my journal entries never get past the complaints, the whining, and the pity party – but they can be more because they can be records of the things we are told not to forget; the things our eyes have seen, prayer requests and answers, things you have learned. They can be opportunities to turn away from the complaining, whining, and pity partying to put what you are learning into your own words, and so much more.

You could use it for a challenge like those I’ve been reading about: a record of who you thanked each day in your goal to thank X people in a year, or a record of blessings God gives, whether it’s a sunrise or a yummy muffin; or as a record of victories and failures that you want to watch God redeem. You could even come up with categories for different days, like Saturday Satisfaction, Monday Motivation, or Thursday Thanks. Include anything that lets you connect with God, with your thoughts, your feelings, your will, your body. If you have a journal on your computer, include pictures. If you sketch, include pictures. Include reviews of books you’ve read, definitions of words you’ve learned, commentary on Bible verses. Make your journal your brain away from brain. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more