Getting Your (Mental) House in Order

Getting Your (Mental) House in Order 

So during this enforced shutdown of activities we are used to, what’s going on inside your head? 

Some of us can busy ourselves to avoid this quieter time, but others may be contending with thoughts we’d rather not have. Things like self-doubt, or even self-hatred, may be trickling in. 
Many of us have negative thoughts about ourselves that run so silently below our everyday consciousness that it doesn’t occur to us to question them: 

“You, idiot, why did you do that?” “You’ll never get it right.” “You don’t belong.” “You are not good enough to (fill in the blank).” Whatever it is we’re saying to ourselves, I think it’s safe to say, we wouldn’t speak it to others, especially not our friends. 

One of the problems this creates is division within ourselves. Jesus said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Abraham Lincoln famously applied this verse to our divided nation. And when you boil it down, it’s true on the individual level, too. 
In very fundamental ways, our habit of negative self-thought prevents us from being able to stand because to be against ourselves is destabilizing. 

I have a good friend, a physiologist who has helped me with nutrition and other therapies since I had cancer 15 years ago, who likes to remind me that every thought has a chemistry. So I wonder, what chemistry are we cooking up inside ourselves, in our bodies, during this time?

When we can’t change the negative noise in our heads on our own, we need to synchronize our thoughts with the ONE who knows us best, Who   came to rescue us from the debilitating inner conversations. Sonia Roper, our prayer house director, likes to ask Jesus what His favorite thing is about the Beloved she is praying with, and then watch their countenance brighten as He speaks to them.

SO, what is Jesus' favorite thing about you? Have you asked Him? If not,  try it today and ask Him to help you practice believing what He says instead of what you’ve been believing.  Do this regularly and see what He cooks up within you.

~Rosalind Hervey