by Christine Wood
There’s a sign painted under the overpass I drive under on my way home. It’s positioned at a bend in the road, so I drive straight towards it. It’s impossible to miss. There is no context or attribution, no artwork, pretty colours or interesting font. But this simple sentence challenges me every time I drive past.
THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT THE BIGGER IT GETS
How true is this statement? What we think about grows. What we focus on consumes all of our attention and takes over everything else. Good or bad, what we think about matters.
Sadly for me, I catch myself focusing on negative thoughts. My head is full of worry and fear. And so often, I worry for nothing. A frightening scenario fills my thoughts with ‘what ifs’ until I’m almost sick.
A couple of years ago, a lump was found at my routine mammogram. There is plenty of breast cancer in my family history. I’ve seen how this story plays out, and I was scared. For the week between the biopsy and the results, I lived out the sentence under the overpass. The more I thought about that tiny lump, the bigger it got. By the time I received the ‘all clear’ phone call, I had convinced myself I was about to die.
I know I am very blessed that my lump was benign. I know the story ends differently for many women. But I also know that my week of sleepless worry didn’t help. My fear didn’t change the outcome, it only stole my joy in the meantime. My thoughts didn’t help me, they actually hurt me.
Paul explains this very well in one of my favourite passages, Philippians 4:6. In the NLT it reads, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” What a great strategy! Turn your worries into prayers and gratitude.
In verse 8, he lists the things we should be thinking about: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
The statement under the overpass is true. The more we think about it, the bigger it gets. So let’s have thoughts full of God’s goodness! Let’s remember His faithfulness and mercy. Let’s think about His generosity and love. Let’s focus on God’s power to heal, save, and provide. Let’s think about things that are true, honourable, right, pure, and lovely, so that is what grows bigger and bigger in our minds.
Romans 8:6 reminds us, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (NIV).
What are you thinking about? Are your thoughts full of worries, or full of faith? Are you focused on fears or on the goodness of God? Is your mind governed by the Spirit of God? May He be the biggest thing in your mind, crowding out the worries and fears of this world.
Christine was a pastor at Gateway for over ten years, but at the end of 2020, she packed up her life, said goodbye to her three adult kids, and spent three years exploring Australia in a caravan with her husband of thirty years. She now lives in an apartment on the seventh floor, surrounded by plants and pictures of her adventures. Christine writes on her blog, livingwithmargins.com, and has several devotionals and Bible studies available on Amazon. She serves as the Women’s Ministry Coordinator at her church. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her drinking coffee in a local cafe, walking along the riverfront or watching a period drama with a knitting project on her lap.