My grandparents spoke of a time years earlier when the Brook flowed freely through the sand on its way to the ocean, and carved a different path every year. This was the root of the Brook’s sinister reputation because every year, its snaking path put people’s cottages in danger. Owners would arrive each spring to open cottages for the season, nervously wondering where the Brook would be. Sometimes it went straight out to sea. Sometimes it doglegged right. Sometimes it whipsawed left. Some years, they would find the Brook dangerously close to the cottage foundations, eating away and destabilizing the sand nearby.
Finally one year, the cottage owners banded together to stop the Brook’s meanderings. Huge boulders were brought in by the Army Corps of Engineers to form a permanent channel to force the Brook down a specific path toward the ocean and away from the cottages, denying the possibility of future mischief.
Where does your mind go when you let it run free? Scheming up ways to deceive? Focusing wistfully on past relationships gone bad instead of the one you’re in now? Dwelling on situations that have hurt us? Planning for revenge? Conspiring to gain control? Devising insults to be ready for the next time a certain person comes up in conversation? These types of thoughts pop into our heads pretty frequently, if we are honest. Although some ideas may seem alluring and appealing, they could begin to destabilize our lives if we let them wander unchecked.
Instead of letting those murky, questionable thoughts course freely though our minds, we need to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5b). To do that, Paul implores us to focus on “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). In other words, focusing on Jesus and His teachings channels the weird thoughts away, and prevents them from destabilizing our lives.
