Philippians 4:8

"Finally, friends, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. "

Yesterday, Dann suggested he use his one day off this week to do a little yard work. Weed pulling, planting a few new things to fill in some holes on the hill etc... To tell you the truth, I wasn't thinking yard work at all, but its his one day off after a VERY long week, which followed several other VERY long weeks, so I decided if getting something off his mental to do list was more restful than rest, I right there beside him (after my hair appointment). Anyway, we finished the weed pulling with a layer of mulch. I used to think mulch just looked prettier than dirt around the plants and was all in favor of the beauty of it. Years ago Dann explained that spreading the mulch a couple of inches thick, blocked out the light and the weeds wouldn't grow. Starve them of the sun and those little buggers never do have a chance. So weed or mulch? I choose mulch.

This morning I am doing day 4, week 1, "Me, Myself & Lies" by Jennifer Rothchilds, all about worry vs God's sovereignty and provision and long about page 24 I read this "Worry-filled meditation never leads to liberty. It turns your thought closet into a prison filled with life-choking weeds. That's why God warns against dwelling on anxious thoughts." hmmm... Worry = life-choking weeds.

Denying weeds in the yard of what they need to survive, kills them before they ever rear their ugly leaves. So how do I smother what feeds the worry? Yelling at the weeds outside to "die, little rascals, die" doesn't work and yelling at my own thoughts doesn't work either. I need to find a way to smother those worries with mulch as well. The Bible tells us in Philippians where to put our thoughts and it doesn't suggest one minute be spent on worry.

Matt 6:25-32 tell us that God takes care of all of his creation, worry doesn't change anything and God is prepared and wants to give us everything we need. The Psalms says much about the fear that worry invites. Psalm 19 was a focus today stating that my thoughts should be acceptable to God and that our words and meditations should be acceptable to God. That takes some faith and discipline.

So today I am setting my purpose on being very aware of a worry creeping into my thoughts and I'm going to smother it with a 2" blanket of Philippians 4:8-"whatever things are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise." In other words, all things God has promised and His mighty power and intent to accomplish.

This one is gonna take some focus! and perhaps a few cookies to go with the hot and BOLD this morning.