Post from July 15, 2023

“👟 RSD 1173 ✅ Today’s Verse: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”— Philippians 4:8

Message translation: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies.”

Do you only watch certain shows before bed? Are you a little picky about it? It doesn’t necessarily have to be a certain show, but it can’t be certain shows. You know, you might be pretty open, but you want a comedy like “Mom,” not a thriller/scary show like “Criminal Minds.” You know, that’s the last thing you’ll hear as you’re falling asleep, and even the occasional comedic relief of Penelope Garcia/Derek Morgan/Dr. Spencer Reid isn’t going to balance out the rest of the “Criminal Minds” episode. So, for bedtime, it has to be something more along the lines of The Weather Channel or HGTV—if you wanted to actually watch before you went to sleep, maybe something along the lines of your go-to “feel good” show (e.g. “The Golden Girls” or “Friends”). Our feel-good shows are more than just for bedtime—when life gets to be a lot, and we just want to rest and regroup, we take comfort in the lighthearted, familiar plots and jokes; they make us feel more “at home” in our lives, even if everything around us seems “up in the air”—like a grilled cheese sandwich or a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Or, maybe you have a playlist of songs that does the same for you. I know many of us have all three: comfort food, shows, and music. It’s our go-to for when we need it or even just want to enjoy it again. You know, adding a good note to the day, especially the end of the day. You ever wonder why we do that? It’s something intangible—it’s like we have this basic instinct to look for comforting things in our world, especially during the times when the world isn’t so comforting.

It’s like we know to seek out good when things go badly or even when things go regular…or things go good (you want to keep the vibe, you know?). Watching a good show before bed: that ends our days on a good note and gives tomorrow a fair chance to begin the same way. A good note: “His most excellent harmonies.” It makes a lot of sense that our instinct to seek out that which gives us comfort is God-given; God knows that we need comfort and gentleness and good in this world, and He encourages us to seek out the best things in life. Today’s verse is St. Paul giving this same advice to the community in Philippi: to seek the good that God put out there for us to embrace. “You’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” Thinking of good things, not just pleasant—good, as in “that which is morally right; righteousness” (Google/Oxford)—the things that come from God. The Message translation provides us with a compare/contrast that helps to drive the point home: both what to look for and what to avoid. One of my favorite quotes is from poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (hey, some of that English III stuck) reflecting on the idea of seeking beauty saying, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” If we’re going to “carry it with us,” we can’t also be carrying things like jealousy, anger, selfishness, greed, and contempt.

It’s like this: we all loved Play-Doh as kids, right? And, hey, full disclosure: I’ve never understood kids eating crayons or glue (even when I was a kid), but, if you were skimming some off the top of the Play-Doh on occasion cause they didn’t have snack time in half-day Kindergarten—I’ve got you. So, you loved Play-Doh—you could make anything you wanted…just don’t forget to put it back in the jar WITH THE LID ON if you wanted to play with it again. As far as molding, a snake was easiest, but we graduated to building houses, dogs, people, snowmen, flowers…pancakes and cookies (I mean—two birds/one stone, am I right?). But, there was always the dreaded possible consequence of mixing the Play-Doh (I mean, what’s a green house without a purple door?): the inability to put the Play-Doh away in such a way as to keep the green unmixed with the purple. And, don’t even get me started if you had two primary colors: yellow and blue..forget it. In Kindergarten, those two containers would both be half-green by Halloween. It was always a little frustrating when you were making your 2-D landscape masterpiece, and the sun had all this green in it because you had used it to make a goldfish in the blue water the week before. If you want your yellow Play-Doh to stay yellow so that you can make the sun on demand, you have to be careful not to mix it up with the blue hurriedly when putting it away. Yeah, the colors mix a little when you play, but if you take the time to pull everything apart, your yellow will still be pretty yellow. When we’re trying to keep the good things with us, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable,” when we’re trying to hold onto yellow so we can make the sun, we have to be careful when we encounter the blues of selfishness or even bad situations that really aren’t our fault that will turn our yellow green if we don’t take the time to pick it out, the reds of jealousy or contempt that will make our yellow orange if we don’t take the time to pick it out, the greens of envy or greed that will, in all honesty, make our yellow just look like puke if we don’t take the time to pick it out. It’s not that we’re only going to play with yellow by itself—life needs some contrast so that we can appreciate how bright yellow is—besides, our sun looks cooler with some sunglasses on it anyway 😎. It’s that we experience our variety of Play-Doh but are careful to how we pack it at the end of the day. If we’re to “carry [the beauty] with us,” carrying the ugly with us will just mix it up into something that we no longer want to see or hold on to…and, we can’t make the sun anymore.

God knows our brains work like that. We will walk by all kinds of trash in the pathway along our journeys, but that doesn’t mean we have to pick it up and take it with us. Want to throw it away? Sure. That’s where trash belongs. But, you wouldn’t just carry trash around—you’d find that garbage can asap. You’re not going to be carrying somebody’s moldy McDonalds or some kid’s accidentally discarded retainer around all day. You’re going to either leave it be or find the nearest trash can. So, on the path God has laid out for us, yeah there’s going to be trash in the road left by other people (but remember sometimes that fast food bag flew out of your own car). God knows that if we carry trash around with us there’s no room in our hands for things that are good, things that matter. God also knows that there’s only so much room in our brains, and, more importantly, our spirits. If we’re making sure the ills of life have plenty of room in our spirit, then there isn’t much room for the things God wants for us. By keeping “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable” close to our hearts, we find ourselves seeking what God wants us to find. God is in truth and love and life and all the good we could ever hope to find. So, as we grow into the best of ourselves, we continually discover that holding onto these things, and not the “ick” things in life, makes our growth possible. God knows how interconnected our hearts are with our thoughts, so “if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things,” and, if something isn’t good to think about—greed, betrayal, jealousy, anger, selfishness, contempt…then don’t.

You know you’re not going to bed being like, “Oh boy! Let me put on a show that makes me sad and angry!” sinks down into covers…turns fan off while you’re at it because that’s how much sense this scenario makes. God knows that our time sitting with ourselves, packing away the clay of the day is where we can decide where to put our focus, and He wants that focus to be on the good He provides and the faith and trust we have in God who is going to stick with us through all of our Play-Doh projects and debris-filled journeys. Focus on the road, not the trash on the side: we’ll never get to where we’re meant to be if we’re looking at discarded wrappers and not the way ahead. We put on our comfort show because that’s what we want playing in our brain. We listen to our feel-good song because that’s what we want playing in our brain. We eat our “go-to” food because it tastes better than Play-Doh…and it warms us from the inside. Thinking about the good does the same warming thing, doesn’t it? Maybe we can’t avoid using and mixing all the Play-Doh colors, but we can do our best to pick apart the colors when we get a chance to pack away (you know, reflect) to give ourselves the opportunity to make the best 2-D sun in class tomorrow. ☀️”