3 Verses to Calm the Mind
All my life, I’ve heard the saying, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”. And though it became second nature to silently repeat the phrase when crossing paths with less than desirable persons, I’ve never stopped to ponder what it really meant.
I mean, it’s not like the mind is liquid that can be poured down the drain; or food that can go bad; or paper in a young child’s hand…it is the mind! Seemingly, a continuous voice inside my head telling me all sort of things, painting tons of mental imagery, and wandering off to never-never land when I am asleep.
I get that drugs and other substances can make a person’s mind becomes “unsettled”. The Pharisee in me used to say that if some people had made better choices then they may have ended up with better lives.
However, now that I am getting older, I’ve come to realize that there are many ways to waste one’s mind. And one of the most commonly accepted ways is worry – the loss of a sound mind. I’ve often wasted a lot of time, energy and peace getting caught up in my head imagining the most horrific scenarios. It can get so bad that my eyes glaze over and I often appear comatose.
For example, I could be on a flight to a happy destination and suddenly I become scared of flying. If I hold on to that thought too long, it balloons into the most dramatic movie ever made…inside my head– the plane crashes; my family’s devastation; my funeral; Carrie Underwood’s saddest song, Church Bells, playing; dramatic tear-filled eulogies (I want several); my husband meeting another woman who might turn out to be a better wife (urgh!); my kids thanking God that all things worked together for their good in finding a better mother; and the biggest worry of all… my art! Will the value of my paintings really go up when I am gone? Craaaazy, right?
So when my mind begins to spiral downwards, I run to these three scriptures in order to calm myself:
- Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
- ‘… to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6 (b)
- For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7
You see, we all deal with some sort of worry and letting our minds get carried away is really wasting it. Keeping my mind from going off the deep end is never an easy thing to do, but when I cling to the Word of God, the calmness it brings is priceless.