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Are You Scatterbrained?
I don’t know about you, but as the years have gone by, I lose more things in my mind than I even put into it.
With each child, the information I must keep track of did not ADD but compounded exponentially—especially as they marry and have children.
A few of my sons would get upset with me because they had to “tell me again” what they were doing or where they were going for the day.
I tried to explain, “I have ten people to schedule and each one doing something different every day.” But they couldn’t understand.
I’ve shared recently of a doctor we’ve hired to help with my adrenal fatigue. One of the aspects he addresses is our body’s need to fight or flight. This fight or flight mode is great when there’s a tiger in the room. We must act NOW to save ourselves.
But when we are in stress mode ALL THE TIME, our body starts to see everything as a danger.
Hunting for tigers?
Everything looks like a tiger.
This wears down our body. Other bodily functions slow down or shut down all together. It can’t do it all.
In order to manually slow down our fight or flight system, he recommends two-ten minute turn off moments through the day.
In those ten minutes, we are to concentrate on ONE THING.
He tells us, “It cannot be done,” so as we try, we won’t be surprised when we can’t.
But he promises as we do, it becomes easier.
Just bring those wandering thoughts back to the ONE THING you are supposed to be concentrating on.
What this does for the body is to re-program it to slow down and not see everything as a stress (or a tiger).
Alarm systems aren’t going on all the time.
This enables your other functions to start to work better.
But I should not have needed a doctor to tell me this.
The Bible says, We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5b.
I had a pastor who always prayed before his sermon that we would “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
As a child, I thought he just wanted us to pay attention to what he was saying.
But it more than that.
Much more.
When we are careful to think only of what Christ would have us consider,
we do not go down roads of revenge, greed, or just wasting our time.
Every thought…
Think how it would change our thought patterns, actions, and life!
That’s what Paul was telling the Corinthians!
And that's what God wants for us.
But like the doctor said, it can’t be done.
And so I find myself scatterbrained.
God made us like Him.
Not scatterbrained, but thinking beings, who process things, want to know the “why?”, and don’t stop thinking.
So how do we take our thoughts captive?
The doctor was on the right track with those ten minutes of slow down and thinking of ONE THING.
God, in fact, tells us what that ONE THING should be.
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Isaiah 26:3.
How do we keep our mind stayed on Him?
Saturate our minds with God’s Word.
That doesn’t just happen.
We must read, study, meditate on it.
It must become so much a part of us, we can’t do anything else but live it.
How else would we know what God wants?
This must be a priority. Not just Sunday doses. But every day being filled with it.
People say, “I don’t have time.”
And they don’t.
Yet they have time for television—which is called a “program” for an obvious reason, they program you to think a certain way.
They have time for their phones.
They don’t even put that away for church.
When I look at the world, I see a world crying for peace.
But God says, peace is found in His presence.
We don’t find God on the phone or on tv.
Nor do we find God in our busy-ness.
We must be willing to slow down—no—STOP!
Think of only Him.
Consider His Words.
Ask for His direction.
And listen for His still small voice.
This requires deliberate action.
Busy-ness forces itself onto us without trying.
Slowing down and listening to God as we read His Word takes time.
He doesn't give His answers like a fast-food restaurant—when you order.
He is God.
He gives His answers when He chooses.
We must be willing to wait.
And listen.
Daniel prayed.
Forty days later he received an answer.
The angel said he had battled during those days to bring the answer to him.
Job never found out why he suffered.
But he found a deeper trust in the God Who allowed him to suffer.
We are to sit in His presence where there is peace and worship without answers, without a blessing.
That requires “taking every thought captive.”
But when we do, we can go about our day with purpose, knowing this is what God wanted us to be doing.
That scatterbrained feeling can drive us back to God for His peace and presence.
Or can keep us distracted to never slow down.
But when I do slow down and listen—
He gives direction.
He orchestrates the next step.
And that is all I need to know.
Scatterbrained or at peace—you choose.
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Faith
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under the Table of Contents. Also available in book form.
Or here:
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I write about what matters...to you---
women, wives and moms---
about your family, faith and future.
I write about what's hard, what helps and what heals.
I show you how it's done. And not done.
I hold your hand as you find what matters to the Savior.
And let go of those things that mattered to you, but not to Him.
I write about what matters...to Him.
Sonya Contreras
How many times have I heard my kids say, "MOM, you already told me that!" Endless times. I just keep telling the kids that so much has accumulated in my mind over the years, that it's impossible to keep it all straight. And no, it's not dementia! I am constantly losing things, forgetting to do things, missing out on things, but I just can't keep it all straight. That's why I have a running list, because if I don't write something down, it's in and out, never to be heard from again. What's REALLY frustrating is thinking of something I should do or someone to call, etc. at a time I can't write it down and when I get paper and pen, I can't think of what it was to save my life.