I was recently reflecting on a favorite Bible passage and how to apply it directly to my thoughts and actions… perhaps it will be helpful to you as well as we begin this new year with a fresh start and fresh thinking.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29:11
Other Translations say I know the plans I have for you… And they say for welfare, well-being, prosperity, goodness not of evil, harm, calamity, disaster… And they go on to say “to give you a future and a hope.”
I started to think about this wonderful passage from the Bible and how much peace it brings to my thought. I also started to think about how Mary Baker Eddy, in one of my favorite books, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, shared with us the idea that God is infinite, divine Mind… And given that we are created in God’s image and likeness, we reflect that one Mind.
So we can thereby reason that we can only have thoughts of peace and hope and prosperity and goodness. I started to think about what if we said this to ourselves and others…
“I know the thoughts I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil… To bring you a sense of hope.”
What if those were the only kind of thoughts we thought about ourselves… Peaceful thoughts filled with goodness that lead to hope rather than the negative loop of self-condemnation or fear and doubt… The constant comparing with others either puffing ourselves up or cutting ourselves down when we compare where we are in life to where others are… The constant criticism or condemning of ourselves and/or others …the endless loop of complaints or pessimistic or negative thinking.
It seems between like between the media and social media there are many temptations to continuously fill our thoughts with negative or fear-based thoughts either towards ourselves or others. Thoughts like “we/they are not good enough, not worthy, don’t belong…”
What if we consider our thinking about others friends, peers, siblings, parents, children, coworkers, maybe even or seeming enemies or those on the other side of politics from us… What if instead of thoughts of negativity, harm, disaster, calamity or any form of evil thinking… We thought only thoughts of peace, goodness and hope towards them. Wouldn’t that fill our thought with those ideas thereby uplifting us and our own thinking. Wouldn’t that fill us and thereby our day and future with hope and goodness and a sense of peace?
kim hedge, cs 