Insights

The long practiced art of mindfulness has in recent years become popular in the Western world. Though some consider mindfulness to have its roots in Hinduism and Buddhism, the Word of God teaches us that we can and should be mindful. Oxford Languages defines being mindful as being conscious or aware of something. We are instructed to practice mindfulness in 2 Corinthians 2:10-15 where we are told to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Further, we are told to set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2), and to renew our minds that we may know His will (Romans 12:2). Mindlessness has never been consistent with a life lived with Christ yet many Christians allow mindlessness to pervade their days and nights.

In his 1903 literary essay As a Man Thinketh, James Allen says, “The aphorism, ‘As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,’ not only embraces the whole of a man's being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.” The aphorism to which he refers is plucked straight from Proverbs 23:7. 

Allen goes on to claim that “as the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called ‘spontaneous’ and ‘unpremeditated’ as to those, which are deliberately executed.”

If Allen’s claims are true, and I believe that they are, we must follow Paul’s exhortation to take our thoughts captive. From the moment we wake until the moment we once again go to sleep, we have a choice about what we allow into our minds. Our children have a choice about what they allow into their minds. Thoughts once planted will produce attitudes and actions. 

“Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind,” Allen said.

I have to wonder what Allen would have said of the things we allow into our minds today. Would he have applauded the antics of Tik Tokers or understood the attraction of binge watching New Girls on Netflix? Probably not. And while I’m not suggesting these things are inherently evil, I am suggesting that we must spend the greater part of our waking hours using our mind with intent - intent to learn, intent to grow, and intent to listen. We must not be controlled by thoughts but have control over that which we think. We must not allow for the excuse of lack of control or mindlessness. Instead, we must learn to practice mindfulness. 

Tammy McIlvoy
Head of School
Logos Preparatory Academy