Oh, the thoughts I have as I look out my prayer window! This
morning I realised that the bushes I trimmed a few weeks back are now throwing
up new shoots, and the whole body of the bush is growing up as well. The view has
shrunk by about a quarter. It led me to think how easily I can let shoots of
thought – many of them selfish, critical, or negative – to grow up and restrict
the God-given perspective Jesus wants me to have. It’s easiest to trim out
those shoots one by one as they appear, rather than wait until they strengthen
into wooden branches of unhelpful thinking.
Having read books for years to my four kids and now some
grandchildren, I thought of one favourite – How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
While the self-centred Grinch punched the air rejoicing in his presumed success
at stealing Christmas from the Whos in Whoville, he was interrupted by the
sound of sweet singing where he expected to hear heartbroken wailing. He had
assumed that Christmas came in gifts – all of which he had stolen, rather than
understanding that it is a Gift, and that Gift is love. And ‘his heart grew two
sizes that day’.
The errant branches were pruned away and the Grinch could
see clearly. The vision was breath-taking, transformative and life-giving.
May I recognise the errant branches in my mind today and
prune them off as soon as they tempt me to think selfishly, critically, or
negatively. Scripture declares we have the mind of Christ – but only as we work
with the Holy Spirit to develop it. I long for his perspective, not my own, for
in him only do we have fullness of life and are we set free from thoughts which
rob us of our peace, compassion and love.
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