Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.
Ephesians 4:23-24
I have found that keeping up with the news is not only depressing because of what people are willing to do to each other, but it's also taught me that I am the one who needs to make some changes if I want to make a difference. But for the longest time, I was had no idea how to make any changes that would make any sort of difference. And, true to form, I was awakened well before my alarm was set to go off, and sensed that I needed to pray about several situations and several people.
So, I sat in my chair with my coffee, and worked on a B.U.B.B.A. while I prayed, listened, and pondered. The more I prayed and listened, my pondering began to take a new direction. I know that I cannot control other people or their actions. I can only control my response to other people and their actions. And while I was in the midst of Quiet Time this morning, it hit me...my mind had changed! I had become jaded! I had become frustrated! I had become who I didn't want to be. So, I began to ask God to not only transform my thinking, but give me a new mind! "Create in me a NEW heart, O God, and make my spirit right with You again" (Psalm 51:10).
Are there still people who frustrate and irritate me? Absolutely! But keeping the conversation with God ongoing about them and LISTENING to Him has changed how I think about many of them (it's an ongoing process).
But the thing I have learned the hard way, because I'm stubborn like that, is that when God is my focus my mind is changed, my perspective is changed, my thinking is changed, and, thus, I am changed.
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