What's On Your Mind

In Messy to Meaningful, my co-authors and I spent some fun (horrifying?) time sorting through our respective junk drawers and relating some of the items we found there to truths of God's Word. 

The junk drawer is quite the adventure. Today I'm thinking about my junk BRAIN.

I'm pretty sure about 78% of my personality is just commercial jingles and irrelevant 90s pop culture references.

It's so funny to me how my brain is wired to recall the most random, useless, tidbits of nothing at the drop of a hat. And THOSE are the things that'll play on a loop in my mind for hours. Like why at any given time am I reciting a pro-thesaurus after-school PSA or rapping all of "Turtle Power" by Partners in Kryme or Duh-doo-da-doodoo-duh-doo-doo-ing the clarinet intro to Diagnosis Murder? (What even was my life in the 90s?) And you know I've probably already forgotten what I just said to you, but you can bet I will mentally perform all of Fievel Goes West for NO REASON. (Even while writing this, my brain is just "Give 'em the laaaaazzzzy eye.")

Yep. I store up a bunch of junk in the ol' brain bank. My mind is a complicated, disorganized mess of keywords and unknown passphrases that connect to random facts and memories and out-of-context quotes and feelings and snippets. 

And I kinda love that. Because sometimes that's exactly what God uses. 

It's so important in my life that I spend time in the Word. That I get that input. Often. Habitually. That those words--the powerful Words of my Father--stream through my brain. Because those are the words that have the ability to shape and change and sustain. When I'm down or in danger or need to make a decision--or even when I'm just doodling or driving or doing whatev--I need those words playing in my head like a song. I need the Holy Spirit to weave them throughout the chaos in my brain so that each new circumstance or conversation connects in my mind to unshakable and unmistakable truth.

And He's really good at it. 

"For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.” Isaiah 55:10-11

"Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts." Colossians 3:16

"Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads." Deuteronomy 11:18