Yesterday at church, there were many different messages that came from all areas of the service. Whether it was the weekly announcements, the offering, the special musical selection, or the sermon, I felt enriched with great words of wisdom. While there were many messages said or taught, I found the message of renewal to be very profound. Renewal is defined as the act of renewing and to renew means to restore to a fresh or new condition; to recover; to revive; to reestablish. Pastor Bernard touched on this topic because often times we want our situations and circumstances to be different, but it is our mindset and thought life that prevents us from changing. He said transformation occurs by the renewing of our mind. If our minds are not renewed, our outlook on the current situations that we want to change will never change, therefore, we will be stuck in the same place.
What we think and how we think affects every aspect of our lives. Our thought life can either motivate us to move forward, or hinder us and we remain stagnant. Whatever is on your mind is either going to break you down or build you up, therefore, we must have a healthy state of mind. This requires:
- Getting ENOUGH rest- Tiredness sometimes alters one’s judgments
- Feeding your mind- we must READ. Reading not only empowers us, but it also helps us function in many capacities. Yes we learn through experience, but we also learn through books and we must continue to educate ourselves.
- Not MAJORING in the MINORS!- We need to not dwell on the small things or the negatives. There are people whose circumstances are worse than ours, but they try to find the good and positive in everything. We can’t “sweat the small stuff.” So we must stop complaining, especially when it involves trivial things.
“Change is a process, not an event” and I don’t expect this renewal to occur overnight, this is going to take a lot of work and a lot of time. We must be willing to put in the effort if we want to truly change and transform. I am going to start by keeping a journal of only positive thoughts. At the end of each day I am going to (well try to) write down at least 5 good things or positive things that occurred. We can no longer let negative things control our mind and our outlook on life. We can always find something positive, we just have to look. So let this be the first step towards our renewal.
Great post.