…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.(Romans 12:2).
This is Paul’s admonition.
Many people understand this in principle, but they fail to demonstrate because they do not carry it out logically in practice. During prayer, they carefully build up the new mental structure, but as soon as their time of prayer is over, instead of faithfully preserving that structure intact they promptly knock it down again by negative thinking. Obviously, a bricklayer could work hard in this fashion year after year without ever accomplishing anything.
If you are failing to demonstrate, it is probably due to the same cause; building followed by wrecking. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Few understand how truly destructive negative thinking is. While it is not an enjoyable subject for discussion, it is as necessary as our understanding joy. One of the reasons it is so unpleasant is because we all fall into this behavior every day. Further, when bad things happen to us or those we love, we feel justified in harboring such thoughts. However, none of this changes the undeniable truth that all negative thinking is harmful to us whether justified or not.
Our bodies react to negative thoughts in so many harmful ways that it is nearly impossible to list them all. A laundry list of harmful chemicals flood our systems, immunity is decreased, our digestive system is compromised, blood pressure increased and on and on.
Our minds are poisoned with thoughts that block constructive thinking, our focus centered on destructive mental activities such as self-pity, self-recrimination, self-righteousness and many, many more. All these things tear down the mental communion with healthy, affirming and regenerative mental activity.
And most importantly, our spirits are locked down and made inaccessible to God and all His power to manifest himself through us. The very water of life which is God’s spirit flowing into us is cut off. We are left without the essential spiritual nourishment upon which we depend to overcome that which plagues us.
Negative thinking attacks our physical selves like acid and rust tears downs a metal structure; it poisons our spirits as arsenic would our bodies; it cuts off the valve through which life-giving spiritual water flows.
Over the next few lessons, we will explore the nature of negativity and how to embrace or reject it. This is a proper and vital exercise if we are to overcome negative thinking in our lives. During this season of Lent, we are called to honestly review our human weaknesses, practice self-denial and charity.
May God grant that our discernment of negativity in our lives will produce a firm resolve on all our parts to draw closer to God, eschew negativity and reveal the beautiful garden that awaits us on the other side of this journey.
And may God’s peace and hope abide in us and guide us to that garden and the renewing of our minds.
Peace,
Z gardener
Good Morning Garden 
Leave a comment