think

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Think Like You Used To Think

I believe many people don’t think like they used to think. 

Think like you used to think

That might seem like a ridiculous thing to write. Of course, many people – probably all people – don’t think the way they used to think. We change our minds about things all the time. 

I’m not talking about a change of mind, thinking one way and then changing to think about the same thing differently. We can all hear new facts, or a different opinion, and change what we think. 

What I’m talking about is changing our thinking process, how we process information that comes into our minds. 

That seems to have changed for many people.

As a child, you may have woken up in the middle of the night and believed you were seeing a dragon by your desk. 

It looked real; you were frightened. You were just about ready to scream for help. But instead turned on your nightlight and discovered the dragon was actually a sock that had been flung over the back of a chair. 

The light and shadows from the moon, that pierced through the tiny opening in your curtains, caused your mind to interpret the shadow of that sock as a monster by your desk. 

When you shed a different light on the area, you could see that your original thinking was faulty, so you changed your mind. 

… And your heart rate. 

These days many people will not try to see the dark dragon in any other light than what is presented to them. Their minds will not change; they only see what is presented before them, without questioning the light that is creating the image. 

A recent example of this is comes from a company that I have been a patron of for many years. In fact, I have been a proponent of their products to others. 

The company is Apple. 

Recently they made a statement that they would prevent an app from their store from being downloaded to or accessed by devices they make. 

That’s a pretty bold move. 

The threat of doing this comes with a condition: they will shut down the Parler app from the Apple app store unless Parler sensors their subscribers. 

… Not all the subscribers, just those subscribers who don’t think like Apple or promote their ideology. 

When I heard this, the first image that came to my mind was the image of a commercial they had made years ago when their company was starting up.

The theme of the commercial was “Think Different”. The images of the commercial were based on the book “1984” by George Orwell. 

The commercial was making the point to break from thinking like the masses, like all the others and think for yourself. Apple was setting itself apart from all the other computer companies and saying to think about computers in a new way. 

Now it seems they have changed how they think. Now they want you to think just like them, like the masses. 

Apple doesn’t think differently any more.

Here’s the thing: Should we think like the masses? The pressure is on to think that way. But to think like we used to think, make sure your mind gets to see another perspective. Let the Bible be that perspective. Read it, understand the message, apply it, and keep yourself from just going along with the thinking of the masses. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to rethink, or see another side of right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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You May Not Be As Strange As I Think

 

The other day I came to realize I’m as strange as other people.

I think most of us think we are normal and everyone else is a little weird … or, at the very least, that other people have odd quirks about them that we don’t.

That’s not correct. I see now that we all have our little bits of oddness; we are all odd.

… Which reminds me of a club in my city – it’s called the Odd Fellows. Now there is a group that has embraced the fact that they are not like most people. They are okay with being strange, a little off-centre, even weird. And they have banded together to accept one another. 

I guess that’s what we should all do. 

I came to my realization of being odd during a conversation about the strange eating habits of other people. Granted it was almost dinner time, the BBQ smelt delicious and I was hungry. 

I mentioned that I knew a guy who didn’t like his food to touch and who ate his food one item at a time. 

My friend jumped in at that point and said, “What’s wrong with that? I don’t like my food to tough either and I always eat my food in an order.”

My first thought was, “Wow! There are two of them out there.” 

But that was really nothing compared to this guy I know. When he would eat pizza, he would separate all the parts. That’s right, the toppings (eg. pepperoni) would each go in separate piles, the cheese in another pile, leaving the crust bare. Then he would systematically eat each pile until that pizza all came back together in his belly. 

They say that when you eat, your food gets all mushed together, but when you eat like this guy I think your food actually reforms to its original prepared state!

That description even made my friend, who identified with this guy, exclaim, “Wow”, as in, “That guy really is weird.” 

But this is where it started getting spooky for me. I kept thinking and talking about how I eat some foods. 

For instance, when I have corn-on-the-cob with my meal, I always eat it first. Before I eat or taste anything else, I finish off my corn. But if the corn is already off the cob as kernels on my plate, then I eat them with everything else.

When I eat Chinese food, I always eat my egg roll first. I never leave it to the last, or eat part of it and save some for the middle of my meal. I down that thing first.

When I eat at Swiss Chalet, the first thing I do when I get my meal is butter that bun and eat it. I don’t touch the fries or the chicken until that bun hits the bottom of my stomach.

And It was right about then that I realized, “I’m as weird as the guy who eats pizza like it’s a  three course meal!” 

I don’t think I can handle the idea of me being weird so it must be that we are all a little odd … which actually makes us all the same.

Here’s the thing: We are all in need of the same saviour because, though our sins may be different, and some sin may SEEM worse than others, the fact is we are all the same in that we all sin. Never excuse your sin as being normal. We’re all in need of a Saviour – Jesus Christ – and His forgiveness.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What sin have you excused yourself of because you view it as normal? Leave your comments below.

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Maybe I Didn’t Think I Had Enough Stress

Could I have added more stress to my life? I don’t know what I was thinking; I’m just glad I got through it. Stress is something we all live with, but there are times when stress is higher than at other times.

I’ve even heard that a little stress is good for you. Stress keeps you alert, motivated; it keeps the blood pumping.

Without a little stress we would probably all be sloths, sitting – rather, lying – around with no cares, no urgency, no get up and go.

When I was a teen I had no stress in the summers. I would sleep until 11 a.m. and then stay up late at night.

My dad used to call that “living the life of Riley”, and though I never met Riley, and didn’t have any idea what he did, it sure sounded like he had a pretty good life.

At the time, it sounded like my dad wished he had a little of that life.

Now I always have a little stress in my life. I always have something to do, and if I don’t, I put a little stress on myself to find something that I need to be doing.

But this past Saturday I put too much stress on my life.  

It was game 5 in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. My team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, were down 3 games to 1 in the series. 

They were facing elimination and playing in Boston, which has so far in this series proved to be a near impossible place in which to win.

To be honest, I didn’t have much hope for my Leafers going into the game. 

But just the same, I was a little stressed that they would leave the playoffs so quickly after having such a great year. 

I was also preaching the next morning. I’m very used to that so no bad stress there – just a little good stress having my sermon in the back of my mind.

That should have been enough stress for one night. I should have been happy that I was showing no signs of slothfulness on a Saturday night.

But for some crazy reason I decided to add more stress to the evening … I decided to start doing my income tax.

I’m not sure why but maybe I thought that it would provide a distraction from the stress that was being generated in me by the game.

Everyone has to do taxes but you don’t have to do them when you’re stressed out to begin with. But that’s exactly what I did.

It was a rollercoaster of a night. Tension was high because the Leafs weren’t making it easy, especially with all the penalties they took in the second period. 

All the while I was gathering my information, making calculations and demanding that Lily find me certain documents and receipts. 

It was a brutal night, but the Leafs won which reduced my stress level significantly. And though I didn’t finish my taxes, I got to a winning stage with them as well.

Now I need a day of being a sloth so I can recuperate.

Here’s the thing: We put even more stress on ourselves whenever we don’t seek God in times of stress. Even if it’s a little, if we will take it to Him rather than go it alone, God can ease our burden, leaving us with just the right amount of stress to keep us moving forward.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you deal with stress in your life? Leave your comments below.