Simplifying Thoughts

Hello Blog, I forgot you existed!  Hello fellow bloggers you I did not forget! And thanks for reading!!!

As I followed this journey onto making things a little bit more simple. I noticed three areas of life that required decluttering to give the most freedom and lend towards a truly simple life.

1. Material posessions
2. Thoughts
3. Time/Schedule

I am going to go out of order and comment on #2. Thoughts. While I new this was a necessary element to pare down, I truly recognized some of the benefits on our family vacation in July.

I remember sitting down and talking to my uncle. I was hearing what he was saying, I was listening to what he was saying, AND (catch this) my thoughts were present in the topic of conversation. This may sound a small feat to those who have never struggled with wandering thoughts, or found themselves to be slightly self-absorbed in tough times, but for me this was monumental.

 My Grandma Susan and I have had multiple conversations on the topic of worry and anxeity and this was one conclusion we came to undoubtedly: Worry and anxiety stem from the idea that it's all up to me. Meaning, I have to figure this out or... What if I won't be able to pay for... and Where will I go after... and I don't know what to do with... All of these anxious thoughts are based on a foundation that I am solely responsable for the understanding, provision, and planning... of everything relating to my life. Ouch! Wow, I feel like that fights against so much of the faith I profess. "Do not lean on your own understanding." "It is GOD who gives wisdom and understanding to the heart." "He is able to provide all of our needs according to His riches in glory" "For I know the plans I HAVE for you"

I don't struggle with anxiety much any more, thanks to God. But I remember in more anxious days feeling a weight of guilt when I would hear the passage "Be anxious about nothing".... I cannot be not anxious, I would think to myself. And once it is physiological, at times it is true that we cannot help being physically anxious. However, I have come to realize that instead of this passage saying JUST STOP! just STOP IT! STOP WORRYING as I heard it before (Which is impossible! how can I empty my mind of thoughts, without new thoughts with which to replace them? And, it's condemning, which Christ is NOT.), perhaps it means: Stop believing the lie that it's all up to you. Stop carrying the weight of what is not solely yours. Choose, choose to believe the truth that I AM with you, that I DO have plans that I am leading you through. Choose to believe what Corrie Ten Boom says "No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still". Perhaps anxiety is flowing from the depths of I. am. alone. Christ does not command us to just put our deepest fears aside, scoffing at them. He knows they come from deep places, He knows life has brought us things that leave us with messages, lies, scarring our hearts. He doesn't ask us to stuff it, pretend, deny it... He softly asks us to pray about these things, and in so doing remember all that He has promised. In time, His perfect Love puts these fears to rest.

So when we simplify our thoughts we are not reveling in the future, regretting the past, or fearing the present. We simply are present. The Lord Jesus has washed my sins away, He has plans for my future and I am allowed to freely live... here. This is what I felt on vacation. Just sitting on the couch. I noticed that (unlike the year before) I was not struggling to pull my mind away from planning thoughts, bitter thoughts, or an attempt to understand everything - those things used to feel necessary for my survival. But now, with those things taken care of... there was nothing left to do but listen and be engaged in the conversation. What a relief!!!!

Things I notice to be huge weights on our minds, taking us away from the present:
1. Finances
2. I'm not good enough, how can I constantly be working towards self-improvment (this is a BIGGIE)
3. Where will I be in 3 months? What will I be doing? How will I pay for it?
4. Bitterness at being wronged

These are all things we do have to think about. But as a thought process stemming from the truth that God is the giver of ALL things, and has promised to take care of us - not a process that is an endless cycle of self-reliance. I must manage my part, and I must not be ruined with striving. It must be a process that leads to responsability and action, but not a false sense of independence. Sometimes the required action is letting go.
Bitterness is one that we are commanded to get rid of, Jesus forgives us and we must forgive as well. Bitterness rots the bones. Let him/her go, let him/her off of the hook. This is another area the Lord has challenged me on this summer and I feel alot better since working it through thoroughly and honestly once and for all. I'm no longer allowed to go back and hold people up to their wrongs in my heart. This simplifies thoughts as well. This can even simplify physical maladies.

Maybe you have other things to add to the list that clutter your mind. Maybe you find yourself at coffee with someone unable to listen to their story because your worries seem to be threatening your life, and you can't pull yourself away from problem solving for just one minute to hear the heart of another. I encourage you. Tell those thoughts that ---actually Jesus is working on that right now, because He has asked me to listen to this person I am with. He is taking over at the office, while I am at lunch -  leave me alone. haha. They have to. If you don't, in an hour you will still have NOT solved that problem and you will miss out on spending time with that person.

Take some time today and notice what you pay attention to. Observe where your mind wanders and pray asking the Lord to show you how you can rely completely on Him in those areas -reaping all of the benefits of our faith.

Help us to simplify our thoughts, Oh Lord. (It's funny because I use the word simplify, but these actions might lead us to make more space for complex creativity and holy rabbit trails- thinking on what's on His heart- while He takes care of the things we cannot fix.)

For more on that I am writing a blog on eliminating striving from our thoughts...the second on the burden list that says "I'm not good enough" -- I hope to finish it, but we shall see....

READ ON!
Planted by water,
Jess