The Brook’s aura said it should not be trusted. Murky-brown, eel-infested, prickled with broken glass and polluted with strange substances beyond identification, it should not be trusted, or so our parents claimed. As the outlet of Bartlett Pond near White Horse Beach in Massachusetts, this wily stream of warm water cut through the sand on its way to the frigid, clear waters of Cape Cod Bay.
My grandparents spoke of a time years earlier when the Brook flowed freely through the sand on its way to the ocean, and carved a different path every year. This was the root of the Brook’s sinister reputation because every year, its snaking path put people’s cottages in danger.
Owners would arrive each spring to open cottages for the season, nervously wondering where the Brook would be. Sometimes it went straight out to sea. Sometimes it doglegged right. Sometimes it whipsawed left. Some years, they would find the Brook dangerously close to the cottage pilings, eating away and destabilizing the sand nearby.
Finally one year, the cottage owners banded together to stop the Brook’s meanderings. Huge boulders were brought in by the Army Corps of Engineers to form a permanent channel to force the Brook down a specific path toward the ocean and away from the cottages, denying the possibility of future mischief.
Where does your mind go when you let it run free, especially in these times of isolation?
Scheming up ways to deceive someone? Focusing wistfully on past relationships gone bad instead of the one you’re in now? Dwelling on situations that have hurt us? Planning for revenge? Conspiring to gain control? Devising insults to be ready for the next time a certain person comes up in conversation?
These types of thoughts pop into our heads pretty frequently, if we are honest. Although some ideas may seem alluring and appealing, they could begin to destabilize our lives if we let them wander unchecked.
Instead of letting those murky, questionable thoughts course freely though our minds, we need to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5b).
To do that, Paul implores us to focus on “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” (Philippians 4:8). Focusing on Jesus and His teachings channels the negative thoughts away, and prevents them from destabilizing our lives.
How do you focus when your mind starts to wander?
How do you focus when your mind starts to wander?
The mind has a finite capacity to retain and recall information. So garbage in? Garbage out!
Hmmm. I’ve been hearing that old verse frequently lately, “..and your old men will dream dreams……” in the days after he has poured out his spirit.
Is the wandering mind a problem? The dreaming mind a problem? My 1st/2nd grade nun always had a comment on my report card of my “day dreaming” mind. And we have that term, “wanderlust”, a genetic trait of the Celtic folk.
I thank God my mind has been liberated from murky flows and I believe that it has been so by letting “this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…….”. The memorization and meditation of several chapters of scripture in younger years along with the daily visitation to Proverbs corresponding with the date (today the 2nd chapter) facilitates subjugating my mind to the mind of Christ so I can……..
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable— if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— think on these things.”
Ya don’t have to fish outa that ole brook! Fish somewhere else! From Living Waters!!
Jim S Manion
Additional reading: Proverbs 2 – amen.
Just because we have a thought doesn’t mean it’s true…. Good to be a discerning consumer of even our own thoughts.
And the hydrology engineer in me also says “Good luck forcing the stream to do your bidding…might work for awhile but in the end, mother nature wins…”