Still moments in early evening, time of rejoicing in Him before dinner, reading Brother Lawrence. Words on the pages steer my mind to “high thoughts of God.”

I hold them gently in my head, fragile things that they are, as I go to the kitchen, gather the parts of a simple supper, and consider how the brother made each small kitchen task an offering, a means of worship, to honor Him. And as I lay out fresh-washed leaves of lettuce, I wonder how this tiny act could do that.

Ah, the lettuce is a lovely gift, beautiful in greenness, crisp in freshness, straight from the garden bed. Let us be aware of that. So I spread their emerald ruffles in a bright-white bowl to better show their varied colors, their damp sparkle left from washing.

And all through dinner mental thanks return to Him easy, for every satisfying bite of food.

But after that comes mind drift. Internet distraction, from good blog posts that glorify God to ads about safeguarding body health. No evil there. Yet without my noticing, something is stealing my focus.

Then we read to one another, lovely together enjoyment, tame and fun. And off the track goes my wandering mind, following whatever path the story takes, like dog on leash!

We read some Proverbs, I read some positive posts on writing by others. And sleepy, I shuffle off to bed.  It’s all moral, upright, positive. But my focus has slipped from “high thoughts” of Himself.

So by this morning’s rising, my poor mind is oh-so-tied-up to the ground!

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love…” The hymn laments, and I with it — for the straying it confesses needn’t mean running amok in sordid sin. It can simply be my distractible mind’s so-easy wandering, off from the God I love.

Alas! What to do!

What I do at first now is fret and focus on failure. On my own performance.

More bad: Focus on self, not God!

Shift the focus… Sing the song. Its next words plead with the Savior, “Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above.”

I sing it. I call on Him. He hears.

And then I do my part and turn my mind back on His track.

How? By the words I choose to read:

Psalms of praise…

Thanks recorded yesterday…

My listing of Reasons to Praise the Lord, counting toward 10,000… {See Below}

Adding more.

And here I am, again returned, back on Brother Lawrence’s track, on my track of serenity, too.

I skim his book again for a moment, and read his own difficulty with a meandering mind — and how he repeatedly remedied it:

“When sometimes he had not thought of God for a good while, he did not disquiet himself for it; but, after having acknowledged his wretchedness to God, he returned to Him with so much greater trust in Him, as he had found himself wretched through forgetting Him.”

Why did he/I feel wretched through forgetting Him? Isn’t that evidence of a grace gift God bestows on a heart, His “deep calling unto [our] deep,” His heart moving our hearts to desire Him, and to feel the empty agitation the mind-wandering takes us off to?

I’d like instant mental constancy. But mind-and-heart training doesn’t happen that way. Not even for Brother Lawrence! (smile)

…..

10,000 REASONS TO GIVE HIM PRAISE, from Psalm 92

Counting, here, from #230

(in my journal, from #782)

• 231 – Because “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your (His) name.“
• 232 – Because He is the Most High
• 233 – Because it is good to declare His lovingkindness in the morning and His faithfulness every night.
• 234 – Because the LORD makes His people glad through His work.
• 235 – Because His people will triumph in the works of His hands
• 236 – Because His works are so very great
• 237 – Because His thoughts are so very deep.
• 238 – Because He is on high forevermore
• 239 – Because His enemies will perish and all the workers of iniquity will be scattered
• 240 – Because on the other hand the strength of His own will be anointed with fresh oil, and be like the strong horns of a wild ox
• 241 – Because those who are planted in His house shall flourish in His courts
• 242 – Because the LORD is upright, our rock, with no unrighteousness in Him.

*****

Linked to

Word-Filled Wednesday at the Internet Cafe

Thought-Provoking Thursdays