Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Daily In God: What Does It Mean To Renew Our Minds?
Daily In God: What Does It Mean To Renew Our Minds?: Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and...
The Great Reset: Ending a difficult year with praise & thanksgiving
Yesterday I decided that I would start reading the Proverbs each month again. I did this for a few years and then stopped. Although I have attempted to resume this very beneficial practice on and off for a while it has not stuck. Well, I am doing it starting this month. Yesterday, November 30th, I was preparing to start my reading and instead of using my old bible I decided to use my Maxwell Leadership Bible I purchased at the beginning of the year. Seeing that the Proverbs are after Psalms I read the last three chapters and found myself caught up in the praise and thanksgiving offered up in these chapters of the Psalms. What a delightful experience, and what a way to enter December and start the countdown to the end of an extremely challenging year!
Psalm 150 (NKJV)
Let All Things Praise the Lord
1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
Proverbs 1
These are the life lessons contained in the first chapter of Proverbs:
The Beginning of Knowledge - verses 1 - 7
Shun Evil Counsel - verses 8 - 19
The Call of Wisdom - verses 20 - 33
The leadership interpretations and notes by pastor and leadership guru John C. Maxwell are phenomenal!
John Maxwell's highlights of Lessons in Leadership:
> Good leadership begins with good wisdom and insight.
> Competency cannot substitute for lack of character.
> Leadership development begins with "being" before "doing".
> Leaders who solve problems will never lack followers.
I invite you to join me in counting down to the end of 2020 with praise and thanksgiving, while preparing for the reset the COVID-19 pandemic has gifted us.
Blessings,
Beverley
Tuesday December 1, 2020
Sunday, January 5, 2020
What Does It Mean To Renew Our Minds?
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (New King James Version)
>>>>>>>>> >>
The scriptures admonish us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and also to renew our minds daily but what does this even mean? I was raised in a household and a community with very strong belief systems, belief in God and in Jesus Christ. Church and community involvement were almost automatic. At a very young age I had strong personal conviction of the existence of God. I was aware that there was "something more" out there. I attended church, I participated in church and Sunday school activities and I read my bible, although I questioned a lot of what was taught and what people believed (to myself mostly of course) because those days a child would not dare question their elders.
We all know things because of repeated exposure or from being taught, so when we hear something we are familiar with our automatic response is "I know". Then, there is a knowing that quietly comes up from deep with in. This is awareness. When information comes to us this way, even things we already know from memory or familiarity, it changes us. We do not have to expend effort and energy to change, it is automatic. This is transformation in action, this is how our minds get renewed.
Then in my early twenties I became interested in the subject of human behaviour, brain science, as well as matters related to being healthy physically, mentally. It didn't happen just like that, at the snap of a finger or a big ah ha moment. At age nineteen I faced a major disappointments and betrayal that changed the trajectory of my life. It was a huge cross for a young girl to bear and no body to guide me or give me good solid advice. My mother tried to encourage me and it helped, but I need more than she was able to give. Others tried, but even at that age, I found some "advice" was nothing more than helping me wallowing in self-pity which was not my personality. Some of the advice or encouragement I got was from people dictating some life choices I should make that only made me angry and defiant.
Telling a young girl who suffered 1 - 2 -3 punches of near death experience, a great loss and betrayal to "trust God, every thing will be okay" "don't worry" doesn't exactly cut it. I get it now, people cant give you what they do not have, and I now realize that it also hurt them to know that they could not help me. They tried their best by giving what they were able to and I rejected their advise and rebelled against them. I blame no one though, the people around me, some quite educated, were just not at a level of awareness to give me what I needed. I turned to books - self-counsel books. Books of great stories of courage and perseverance. This was the beginning of my education.
We renew our minds when we learn and grow. Spoiler alert! Effort is required, consistent effort for consistent results! We learn from reading the bible, meditating on what we read and we grow by putting into practice what we learn. We learn by meditating - tuning out the noise and the internal chatter and calming the body and mind. When reading and meditating, I pay attention to thoughts and insights I get. It's amazing the new revelations and awareness that I have gained through this practice. We also renew our minds by engaging in good conversations about our faith and life with other people.
Once you start to open up in conversations with others you find our that your thoughts, ideas and insights are not so unique after all. Other people have gotten to that place ahead of you, that is how you confirm you are on the right road! Don't worry about what if other people are wrong, because the spirit will alert you so you will know. Do not allow fear of what anybody will think of of you or say hold you back. Recently after my morning meditation exercise this thought hit me, "the bible tells us what to do and what not to do in our daily walk but it does not tell us the how to, that's where our individual gifts and talents come in". I say this again, all knowledge comes from God. In our walk through life we are here to help each other.
What happens when you do the things mentioned in the above paragraph? Because you are changing your thought patterns and establishing new beliefs through a process called neuroplasticity, the brain is "rewiring" some synapses while strengthening others that are being reinforced. This is why we need repetition! Repetition establishes behaviours and habits.
So there, you have the spiritual practices and the scientific effect of these practices, of course in very simple terms. Now are you curious? Go explore, there are plenty of interesting books and resource material available. It is really exciting! You can start today and you will be glad you did.
Have a transformational 2020!
Beverley
>>>>>>>>> >>
The scriptures admonish us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and also to renew our minds daily but what does this even mean? I was raised in a household and a community with very strong belief systems, belief in God and in Jesus Christ. Church and community involvement were almost automatic. At a very young age I had strong personal conviction of the existence of God. I was aware that there was "something more" out there. I attended church, I participated in church and Sunday school activities and I read my bible, although I questioned a lot of what was taught and what people believed (to myself mostly of course) because those days a child would not dare question their elders.
We all know things because of repeated exposure or from being taught, so when we hear something we are familiar with our automatic response is "I know". Then, there is a knowing that quietly comes up from deep with in. This is awareness. When information comes to us this way, even things we already know from memory or familiarity, it changes us. We do not have to expend effort and energy to change, it is automatic. This is transformation in action, this is how our minds get renewed.
Then in my early twenties I became interested in the subject of human behaviour, brain science, as well as matters related to being healthy physically, mentally. It didn't happen just like that, at the snap of a finger or a big ah ha moment. At age nineteen I faced a major disappointments and betrayal that changed the trajectory of my life. It was a huge cross for a young girl to bear and no body to guide me or give me good solid advice. My mother tried to encourage me and it helped, but I need more than she was able to give. Others tried, but even at that age, I found some "advice" was nothing more than helping me wallowing in self-pity which was not my personality. Some of the advice or encouragement I got was from people dictating some life choices I should make that only made me angry and defiant.
Telling a young girl who suffered 1 - 2 -3 punches of near death experience, a great loss and betrayal to "trust God, every thing will be okay" "don't worry" doesn't exactly cut it. I get it now, people cant give you what they do not have, and I now realize that it also hurt them to know that they could not help me. They tried their best by giving what they were able to and I rejected their advise and rebelled against them. I blame no one though, the people around me, some quite educated, were just not at a level of awareness to give me what I needed. I turned to books - self-counsel books. Books of great stories of courage and perseverance. This was the beginning of my education.
We renew our minds when we learn and grow. Spoiler alert! Effort is required, consistent effort for consistent results! We learn from reading the bible, meditating on what we read and we grow by putting into practice what we learn. We learn by meditating - tuning out the noise and the internal chatter and calming the body and mind. When reading and meditating, I pay attention to thoughts and insights I get. It's amazing the new revelations and awareness that I have gained through this practice. We also renew our minds by engaging in good conversations about our faith and life with other people.
Once you start to open up in conversations with others you find our that your thoughts, ideas and insights are not so unique after all. Other people have gotten to that place ahead of you, that is how you confirm you are on the right road! Don't worry about what if other people are wrong, because the spirit will alert you so you will know. Do not allow fear of what anybody will think of of you or say hold you back. Recently after my morning meditation exercise this thought hit me, "the bible tells us what to do and what not to do in our daily walk but it does not tell us the how to, that's where our individual gifts and talents come in". I say this again, all knowledge comes from God. In our walk through life we are here to help each other.
What happens when you do the things mentioned in the above paragraph? Because you are changing your thought patterns and establishing new beliefs through a process called neuroplasticity, the brain is "rewiring" some synapses while strengthening others that are being reinforced. This is why we need repetition! Repetition establishes behaviours and habits.
So there, you have the spiritual practices and the scientific effect of these practices, of course in very simple terms. Now are you curious? Go explore, there are plenty of interesting books and resource material available. It is really exciting! You can start today and you will be glad you did.
Have a transformational 2020!
Beverley
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