Re: Things we "should" be thinking about

Let's see, we could think about nature and how beautiful it is and maybe try and imagine (if we can lol) what heaven might be like--how beautiful it will be etc.

Speaking of imaginations, it seems someone brought that up in the other thread too because unfortunately our imaginations are often sinful or can be. Especially if we use them to imagine ourselves doing or succeeding in something the Lord has forbidden.

We could imagine ourselves in all kinds of normal earthly situations (kind of like a "what if" scenario, only imagine how we would handle various things if we were to do so in a Godly way. Like what if a co worker brought up the subject of sin, how would we handle it--and imagine ourselves doing it in such a way that it would make the Lord proud of us.

Thinking and imagining things isn't bad, as long as were doing it in a godly manner. If you think about it, in the parable of the prodigal son, the son imagines what he will say to his father to try and get his father to take him back. God gave us our minds and our imaginations but sin has corrupted them. We just need to be careful to use them in the manner and for the purpose God intended them to be used in.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

So using our imaginations for good, to think and work out ways in which we could speak or act in a godly way in various situations would be a good use of our imagination.

Another good use for them would be to imagine ourselves becoming very knowledgeable and wise about God's ways and sharing it with others; or perhaps seeing ourselves overcome various problems or sins in our lives and imagining how that might happen. Imagining ourselves being a godly wife or husband, child or spouse etc. would be other ways to use our imaginations for good.

We might imagine ourselves doing something we really love and enjoy and having that as our job and imagine how we would grow spiritually while doing it; or just imagine ourselves growing spiritually as we do whatever our job is now.

There are millions of things we could imagine that would be godly ways of using our imaginations.

Something Barbara said on another thread reminded me of something that's always good to think about, dwell on, imagine about and even pray about:



And that reminds me of a story about my oldest granddaughter when she was two years old. It was Thanksgiving Day and my daughter was having her first Thanksgiving Dinner at her house so it was very special. We were all sitting at the table and the food smelled wonderful. My daughter began to say the blessing over the meal and Cassandra piped up saying she wanted to say the prayer lol, so Michelle told her she could.

So Cassandra began praying:

Dear God, thank you for our house, for our kitchen and our table and our sink to wash the dishes in, thank you for our dishes and the silverware too; thank you for our couch and for my rocking chair; thank you for my toys (she then named quite a few of them!) thank you for our toilet and the bathtub and the sink and our toothbrushes; thank you for soap and toilet paper and for my mommy's hair brush; thank you for my barrettes,thank you for my hair, and thank you for water to drink and water to wash in; thank you for my daddy's coffee; thank you for my mommy, daddy, grandpa, grandma (and that list went on quite awhile too) and thank you for the vacuum and the broom and sponges to clean up messes; thank you for the TV and the stereo and for music; thank you for clean sheets and pillows and blankets to keep us warn; thank you for our car and the phone and mommy and daddy's jobs, and for our money, and the trees outside; the sun and the beach, the moon and stars at night, the sand, the grass and flowers, for our curtains, our beds, our kitty, and the kitty's food, .....

That little one continued on like this for at least a full five minutes before Michelle tried to stop her and let her know that the food was getting cold! She said she'd be done soon so Michelle let her continue. and continue she did for another full five minutes!

Finally Michelle told her she had to stop lol and she ended her prayer, "In Jesus' Name, Amen!" We all were laughing at first but I had tears in my eyes by the end of it because I had learned more that thanksgiving day from my two year old granddaughter then I ever would have suspected! That little one truly understood what being thankful was all about and understood that all those things she named really were blessings from the Lord. It made me think of these verses right away:

Psalm 8:2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Matthew 18:2-4 He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

I vowed that day to never forget the lesson she taught me. In fact this past Thanksgiving Michelle again had Thanksgiving Dinner at her house with the whole family. Cassandra was 12 then and after Michelle led us in prayer, I reminded Cassandra of her first real Thanksgiving dinner and her prayer that day. I thanked her for all she taught me and told her that I have shared the story with many people since then so really she has taught many about thankfulness and counting our blessings. I pray it's something she will never forget, and that it's something that will help many including me to remember to be thankful for everything we have, because really, we have so much!



I think I'll go count my blessings right now! Being so much older then Cassandra was, I should be able to count them for a very long time!!! (and each and every one of you are a blessing to me!)

 

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