Thoughts of a Friend

Why His thoughts are restorative and my thoughts are destructive.

Sometimes I sit down to write my thoughts and the race in which they have been engaged throughout the day has exhausted them so, that they are silent. They are breathless. They are scattered. The thoughts are melted into one blob so much worse than any Play-Doh unrecoverable catastrophe from days gone by. Which color was the original idea? How did the secondary color get meshed into the process? Who knew the combination of those colors could lead to yet another. And another. And another.

My thoughts are too often my thoughts and not the one who knows my future. The jumbling of the content is an amalgamation of my efforts to plan and solve my enormous to-do list with constant strategizing and theorizing. When the strategizing robs me of sabbath, I seek to escape in the mindlessness of scrolling, shopping, list making, sleep. More often than not, the day ends just as it began – with a list still full of to-dos.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

The Lord knows my thoughts before they take root in my mind. He sees my tendencies and knows my leanings. More poignantly, Satan also knows these undeniable traits. So as I lean into the gift of free will, and I lean in with the desire to self-regulate and self-preserve, I lean away from God-sustained rhythm and God-ordained perseverance. I find myself spending more time seeking to solve my problems through my own strength, with the continual awareness that time and again, the only thing that has brought me peace and joy have been the days where I see His power and glory and mercy and grace rise above ANYTHING I could say or do. Isaiah is speaking not of his own prophetical power, but he is serving as the resounding voice of the Lord to His people.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. The vastness between the restorative and transformative mindset of God - our Savior, Redeemer, Healer, Sustainer, Lord, Suffering Servant, King, Rescue, Friend – is the chasm we are given to close with each new day and each new breath. The kindness of His mercy over us as we seek to reset this approach to our day, is additionally reflective of just how much higher his ways are than ours. We fail to extend grace to one another as we witness repetitive poor choices and yet, He waits with grace and truth to welcome us and walk us through the chaos we created by trying to do it all on our own.

For the first few decades of my life, I was immersed in a traditional church with patterns and systems that sometimes seemed ritualistic instead of worshipful. Tradition and reverence can so often be blurred leaving the desire to rebel or holdfast divisive and splintering. Yet, as I sit and think back over many of the repetitious practices, I had the opportunity to engage, I return to them with comfort. I return to them as therapeutic healing water. I return to them finding His thoughts. For years, a song was sung by the congregation at the close of many sermons that seemed so solemn and depressing to me. It was like an old gospel chant that belonged in a funeral, or so it set the mood as such. The placement of the song in this particular point in the service was to cause reflection and petition response.

Now, decades later, the song plays over and over in my head with the words relaying His gentle lovingkindness, calling me back to Him and reminding me to take it to Him. In so doing, I am taking steps to closing the gap so that His thoughts can be my thoughts, and His ways might be my ways.

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

2

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

3

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.