In imagination there is no truth...
but in meditation on God's word, truth can be found.
-Buck Buchanan
I added (on God's word) because that is where my brain has been going ever since I began thinking about this statement. I loved adding that because I am a worrier and I tend to worry about the littlest things instead of laying them at my Lord's feet. I also have a huge imagination and if I am not careful it will completely run away with me. One of the ways that I battle both of those is through my scripture memory and little notebooks I have with scripture in them. These are tools I use to help reign in my worry and my imagination when it is running away with my mind.
The Lord began to direct my thoughts to my girls. My oldest especially has an imagination like mine and she is also a worrier. I think she has the potential to worry even more than me and that is a lot! My girls have just restarted their Awana program at church and I just love this program. It helps teach children the importance of scripture memory, it challenges to memorize scripture and rewards them as the accomplish these goals. As I was thinking over Dad's statement I began to think of my girls and how I don't want them growing up thinking that there is truth in the wilds of their imagination. Dictionary.com defines imagination as the product of imagining; a conception or mental creation, often a baseless or fanciful one. This definition describes what happens when I am not careful. My mind begins to create things out of nothing and then if I am not careful the enemy takes those worries and runs with them like a freight train and I don't want this to happen to my girls. I want to equip them to know and seek truth.
Another side of this statement that hit me was all of the information that we get through the media, tv, other people, stores, etc. Advertising can really influence our thoughts, what we think of ourselves, our contentment and what we think of others. These ads are very creative and inventive but 99% of them are not based on the truths of the Bible. These things tell us we need certain products to be beautiful or we need a new remodeled kitchen to be content and organized. What I have learned is that when you turn off these things you allow the Lord to really bring you and your mind back into perspective. 7 months ago our family decided to get rid of our satellite TV and just use our Xbox 360 and a roku to watch tv. This limited our shows, we only get commercials with Hulu and those are limited. It took a while but after visiting with my parents and watching regular TV again I began to realize all the things that were influencing me from TV. It was affecting my mood, my contentment and the reality of how blessed I truly am. An example is HGTV. I love watching HGTV but when I was watching and then came home I spent time dreaming of all the changes my house needed and the upgrades it could use. Then I came across a blog post called Give Me Gratitude or Give Me Debt. This post really helped me get my brain back where I needed it to be.
It is so easy for us to let the influences of this world, media, circumstances and other people affect our imagination. You may not agree with me but I know for me all these things are tools the enemy uses to make me believe his lies and not the truths of the Bible. So here I am back in my routine, working on Awana with my girls, living the homeschool life and resetting my brain as I study the book of James. I have found my contentment and I have been able to step back from my crazy imagination driven truth and refocus on the truth found in meditating and spending time in God's word. Don't let your imagination determine truth in your life but instead spend time mediating and studying the Bible where you will find truth so amazing it will change you life!
No comments:
Post a Comment