Tag: negative thoughts

Posted on

Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Fighting Ourselves

I had a fight with a robin last week.

Looking out my kitchen window, I could see something in the dish full of jelly for the orioles. I went and picked a couple of twigs out of the dish, chuckled at the silly robin, and went back inside.

A little while later, I was shocked to see the beginnings of a nest!

I ran out and plucked the brush and twigs out of the feeder. Dumb bird.

I got busy with things inside and the next time I looked out it was worse.

Now I was getting mad! This bird was not going to win. I went out there every once in a while and tossed out the beginnings of several nests.

When I told Gary and the boys about it at lunchtime, Blake laughed and said, “It’s kind of like you’re fighting yourself!”

In the afternoon, Gary pointed out that I was being pretty cruel to the poor robin. She was just trying to build a nest so she could lay her eggs. He was right, and I felt terrible. I did what he suggested and put a bag over the feeder to force her to build her nest somewhere else.

It worked. I left the bag on for a day or so, and when I took it off she didn’t try to build there again. She must have found another spot.

As I fought with the bird that day, I realized that Blake was right. I was fighting myself. The silly robin wanted to build her nest in the wrong place, and this silly Robyn sometimes wants to stay in places that are wrong for me.

I put time and energy into things that don’t really matter way too often, and, even worse, I let negative ideas fill my mind and crowd out more helpful, productive thoughts. Instead of brooding over the bad thoughts, I need to catch hold of every single one and get it out of my head.

I could barely keep ahead of that ambitious robin, and it can be even harder to stay ahead of all of the thoughts that try to take up residence in my brain. If only there were a way to cover everything and keep those thoughts out.

That may not be possible, but there is something I can do. When I get confused and frustrated by my tendency to keep going back to the same old thoughts and sins, I can focus on something else instead. Looking to the Lord for his wisdom and strength just may help me stop fighting myself and find the perfect place to rest.

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15 NIV)

“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” (1 Chronicles 16:11 NIV)

Do you ever get frustrated by your tendency to do the things you don’t want to do? How can focusing on God help you to turn from those things and rest in him instead?

Posted on

Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Practicing What You Preach

When I was in 5th or 6th grade, I was a “safety” at East Elementary School. We went through special training and then we were assigned to help kids cross the streets on the way to and from school.

We wore bright orange belts and enjoyed a special degree of respect from the little kids who waited behind our outstretched arms until we determined that it was safe to cross. Then we would step to the side, hold one arm out toward the street, and motion them forward by swinging the other arm while we chanted “Walk” and watched as they made their way to the other side of the street.

We also had the authority to “report” kids who disobeyed our directions or did unforgivable things like walking on the grass.

One day our “safety” group walked down the steps and headed to the intersection of Burlingame and 36th Street. A couple of us decided to take a short cut, until we heard another kid warn, “Hey! Practice what you preach!”

Sure enough, we were walking on the grass. How could we tell younger kids not to do that and then do it ourselves? Especially at that time in my life, it made a big impact on me (oh, the guilt!).

I thought of it again this week because I’ve been wrestling with my emotions.

I’ve wanted to wallow in negative thoughts and bad habits that are not contributing to my health and happiness.

When I got pretty deep in my distress, my old “safety” experience came back to me and I thought: “Practice what you preach.”

What would I tell someone who was feeling the way I was?

Write down your thoughts. Recognize the ones that are negative or lies and replace them with positive thoughts and truth from the Bible.

Show yourself some grace. Take a break and do something nice for yourself instead of focusing on every single responsibility you have and stressing about it.

Talk to someone about how you’re feeling. Feeling supported could help you get to a better place emotionally.

I did some of those things once in a while, but most of the week I let the negative thoughts run amok in my mind.

It’s time to stretch out my arms and say, “Stop!”

It’s time to look around, identify the dangers, and wait until the coast is clear.

Then I can point ahead, motion my thoughts forward, and chant “Walk” as I choose safe paths of thinking.

Whether it’s mental health or some other area of our lives, let’s be careful to always practice what we preach.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22 NIV)

Do you say one thing and do another? How can focusing on God help you to live out what you say you believe?

Here’s a picture of me and my younger sisters, around the time I would have been a “safety.”