Single Elimination.

Hi babies! I feel like I should say "We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to bring you...."

Ha!

Because, see, I ended the last post with the little phrase "To be continued."

But I don't want to continue it tonight.

Alas, no. Not tonight. I will get around to it eventually. I have other thoughts in my little brain running around in circles and interrupting, not only this supposedly scheduled blog post, but my daily thoughts.

Which is exactly what I wanted it to do.

Remember now that I was in the Blahs around the time of my last post.

Blah blah blah.

And I touched a bit on "thought processes" and taking thoughts captive.

And how I WAS NOT doing that.

In not wanting to really ever be Blah again (because who in the world enjoys the doldrums?), I was processing through it and the passage in Philippians 4 came to mind.

"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." (Phil 4:8)

Do you ever feel like your mind runs wild like a car with no brakes? Or are your thoughts ever totally out of control, and there you stand, trying futilely to grab at them like lots of pieces of paper in a high wind?

It occurred to me a few years ago that what the Bible tells me to do, I do the opposite.

"Take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ" (II Cor. 10:5), it says, and "Pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). 

But I usually think without ceasing and take every prayer captive.

Do you know what I mean?!?! My mind just GOES. Wherever, whenever, all the time, to places it shouldn't, it plots plans, it dwells on fears, it thinks up schemes, it makes up fake stories, it conjures up prejudices and judgments, and blah blah blah exactly; before I know it my mind has gotten me where? In the blahs. The doldrums.

Because I didn't take every thought captive. And subsequently I sure was not praying over anything, let alone the thoughts I should have captured.

And then it hit me: that laundry list in Philippians of things to think about (i.e. things to prayerfully categorize your captive thoughts with) is kind of like a funnel.

You know, like one of those things that are big at the top and small at the bottom. Those things that control the speed and flow of what passes through it.

And in this funnel is where you place your thought. Like all things you are trying to condense, it starts at the top--your captured thought starts at the top--which is where it gets passed through its first question; the widest level of the funnel.

Right off the bat: Is this thought TRUE?

As simple as it sounds, this already is revolutionary to me. How often do I find myself fretting and fussing and fearing over things that are not even true?! All the time.

My dad would always say, "Cry about what you know, not about what you don't know. Don't cry about what you imagine."

It's been a helpful thing for me to remember through the years because I can easily work myself into a hot mess over things and situations that are not even necessarily true if I am not careful.

So first and foremost, like the passage outlines, interrogate your thought with evidence for its truth. And then it's like a single elimination 3-on-3 basketball tournament. If it's not true, then it has got to be gone. Get it out of your mind; it's not a thought that is available to you for thinking.

Sorry, try again.

If, however, it is true, then you can pass it onto the next level, the next stage of the funnel.

Now we ask of it, "But are you NOBLE?"

And, like a summer storm, round and round the thought goes in the funnel, down through the next level or immediately spit out. Spit out because if it answers "No" to any of the levels, it will take you where you don't want to be. 

See the thing is, even though it might be TRUE, if it's not NOBLE then it will do you no good. It will prosper you nothing.

Because not all things that are true are brilliant. 

Remember that. Just because something is true doesn't mean it's healthy. We live in a nasty world; reality can be a harming place.

But hurray! If it is not only true but noble as well, then it goes for its third round of questioning: Is it RIGHT?

Yes or No? Does it stay or does it go?

Do you see the pattern?

It's just like that questionnaire at the doctors office "If you answered 'Yes' to any of these illnesses...."

Does this make sense? How much better off would we be if we thought about only the things that were true AND noble AND right AND pure AND lovely AND admirable AND excellent AND praiseworthy? And ONLY prayed about the things that had to be spit out....?

I guess I am just in the mood to be so hyper-active about my thought life right now, that anything that will keep me positive and peppy (the opposite of the Blahs) and, more importantly, focused on Christ and HIS truths, is what I want to cling to.

Think good thoughts, Wolfies!