Combat Worthless Thoughts
One of the gifts I received this Christmas was a noble thought. It came as a beautiful, artistically written saying framed in a pleasant wooden frame. It said:
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up at the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was Light and High Beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
– The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien
In my opinion, 2020 has been a year filled with worthless thoughts. There were definitely noble thoughts to be found, but it seems the loudest voices were all about the worthless thoughts.
Some of this past year’s worthless thoughts were… See! There it goes again! I almost took us right back to the worthless thoughts.
I know there is a time to call out the bad and name it for what it is, but for this message, I want to stick with the noble thoughts. Since our world is saturated with worthless thoughts and our technological advances have popularized, empowered, and magnified them, it is paramount we do a few things:
Recognize and acknowledge worthless thoughts for what they are.
Don’t let worthless thoughts hang about or take root in your mind.
Combat the worthless thoughts with noble thoughts.
Noble thoughts are thoughts that inspire you to live in opposition to the worthless thoughts. When noble thoughts are shared, they inspire others to live in opposition to worthless thoughts. A mind filled with noble thoughts is a mind at ease—a mind that won’t miss any goodness headed their way or goodness they can give away.
“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”
– Paul the Apostle (Message Translation)
May your 2021 be filled with noble thoughts and noble deeds done by you and for you,
David