Have you ever seen the sharp, ironic little quote, “Man plans and God’s laughs.”? It always brings me a wry smile. At first that statement may seem a little cold, but when you dig a bit deeper, it makes more sense.
We all have a story we create in our mind, for ourselves, actually – many stories we create in our minds to explain our lives. When we were children and we felt treated unfairly, our story may have been “You’re mean!”. Now that we are ‘older and wiser’, it may be “My boss is such a jerk” or “That’s just the way things go for me, I never seem to catch a break.” or “People need to learn how to drive!” Those are related to the stories we have created in our minds to explain our daily life experience in the world.
In the eternal wisdom of Isaiah, Isaiah 55: 8-9 speaks truth: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, sayeth the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” This sweet counsel reveals a kinder, gentler Father in Heaven who wants the best for His children. He delights to guide and teach us, and being unconstrained by the boundaries of time, can see how things will work out with the our plans in our best (or maybe not our best) interest.
Have you ever wondered if the story you have created in your mind may be wrong?
We create frameworks or patterns of thinking to support the stories we’ve created much in the same way a mapmaker may construct a map. In days of yore, renaissance cartographers made maps showing Europe as the largest continent, and the U.S. as barely a speck. But is it really? Check google earth folks- those maps told a great creative story. Thus we see, one tends to see the circumstances in their own creative, personal life view, their big picture or story, and then create the thinking habits and patterns to support that lovely or not so lovely legend.
If our stories are wrong, there’s a good chance the framework of our thoughts could use some improvement as well.
Every night while we sleep our brains sift through the thoughts/neural pathways that were used that day. The ones we used are strengthened, the ones we didn’t use are swept away and cleaned up to make room for new experiences on the morrow. Can you see why your thoughts are so important? And why it is even more important to strengthen the good thoughts (with scripture study, quality entertainment, a great group of friends etc.) and ignore the bad? Our brains will actually change over time to accept the thoughts we choose most often as our personal reality- and that will define our story for good, or not so good.
So yeah, make your plans, but make sure those plans are grounded in the real story. If you’re not sure how to change your story and get those thoughts out of their well worn rut, CMH Coaching can help. We have helped clients strengthen their marriages, reroute bad habits, feel more powerful in their business lives, understand anxiety, and stop worrying. Got a struggle? We are happy to reach across and lend a hand to help you onto higher ground. Just give us a “call”. www.callmomherbs.com
