| Matthew 6:22 – “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.” |
I am studying Proverbs for a men’s class. He tells us to pay attention to our father’s commands and our mother’s instructions as: “when you walk they will guide you, when you sleep they will watch over you, and when you awake they will talk to you”.
My mother is 92 and I am 68. But as I leave her after a visit, I still hear “Be careful”. Or “Be safe”. Many times I heard as a child “Don’t worry. Be happy!” “Drive careful” is something I still hear. I try. Counselors and therapists call it “self talk”. What plays in our heads when stress finds us. We sing these words at church: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”. What we ponder on influences us.
I was second in line at a traffic light. The light turned green. The guy in front did not go. He was looking down at something. After a few seconds I honked. He looked up, but then went back to his distraction. I honked again, a little less politely. He pulled up into the intersection, slammed on his brakes. When the light went yellow and was red, he took off, after a friendly one-fingered wave. Note to self: People don’t like to be corrected and/or embarrassed. And driving brings out the worst in us.
A friend told my wife about her daughter driving home from work. A guy sped around her and tossed the contents of his cup across her windshield. All she could figure she had done was maybe not driving fast enough for his liking. At the light, he was in front of her. She raised her phone to capture his license plate (which didn’t come out clear through her now messy view. He noticed and got out, came to her door, and broke her rear view mirror. Road rage is real.
I see some of the video games. Very violent. Movies also. What we fill our mind with talks to us. I pray “hallowed be Your name.” And it talks to me when I watch a movie and they use God’s name as trash. Now, I stop the movie. I leave it and don’t watch. How can I pray that and not do something to show I believe it? That prayer Jesus taught us has impacted me. It talks to me. It pricks my conscience. Father in heaven, help me to guard my mind, in Jesus’ name, Amen!
-Jeff Beall
