The Curious Believer

How Did I Get Here?

Ever find yourself in a situation that seems oh too familiar and ask yourself “How did I get here again?” Ever feel like certain undesirable situations seem to reoccur in your life no matter how hard you try to prevent them? You may be surprised to know that the reason for it is not as much of a mystery as you think.
What if I told you that you had more to do with the outcome of your life than you realize. That the very situation you despise so much is being generated by your own thinking. How you may ask? Before we can truly answer that we need to establish some things as truth and make sure that everything we say is based on truth. Let’s begin with looking at what truth is and what actually plays a part in establishing our thinking.

What is Truth?

According to John 17:17 Jesus stated, while praying to the Father: “Sanctify them with Your Word. Your Word is truth.” By this we know that the Word of God is the source of truth. Where the believer is concerned, it should be the ONLY source of truth. John 12:49 states Jesus said nothing of His own but only what God told Him to say. John 6:63 says that words are both spirit and life. They are spiritual, as in they speak to the spirit: and they give life. I submit to you by all of these that the first thing that can shape or establish our thinking are words. More specifically, words from people that we consider of high importance. Parents, close friends of the family, older siblings, teachers and even celebrities can all speak words that we allow to shape and establish the way we think. To put it another way, give life to the way we think. These words go into our spirit, take root in our soul (which contains our thinking and our emotions), then produce and establish a paradigm. An operational mindset & thought pattern that ultimately manifests into our life. So, what happens when those words are hurtful, derogatory and loaded with insults? Well, if they take root then they are seeds. Seeds will ultimately become trees and when that happens you now have a bad tree producing bad fruit over and over in your life. Which in turn, continuously manifests that situation that you find so unfavorable.

What Do You See?

Another contributing factor to your thinking will be your environment. What do you see on a daily and consistent basis? What images continuously enter your eye gates, taking root inside of you and producing situations and circumstances that you would otherwise rather do without?
Your eyes, just like your ears are gateways into your innermost being…your soul. Your soul contains your mind. Your eyes are one of several ways that information goes into your mind, takes root and later produces a specific type of outcome based on the desire it creates. What is produced is always based on the type of information that was put in. Basically, what you get out of your mind is determined by what you put into it.
While there may be other gateways into your soul none are more active than your eyes. They are always open, unless you’re asleep, constantly & continuously taking in information. Consider how much info, how many images that you have seen throughout your life. Think about each and every environment that you have ever been in from your child hood, your teenage years, and even early adult years. Each and every one of those environments have contributed something to the way you think. Ultimately contributing to the situations, circumstances, and surroundings that you subconsciously create for yourself.

Preparation vs. Procrastination

I’ve got time. I’ll take care of that tomorrow. Maybe later. There’s plenty of time for that down the road. Any of this sound familiar? They’re but a few of the many statements held within the arsenal of one of the greatest enemies to ever come against mankind – Procrastination. In order to see just how powerful and dangerous procrastination is and how it ultimately destroys any hope of success or a profitable future we should take just a brief look at its polar opposite – Preparation.
What does it mean to be prepared? Let’s say there’s a baker who is quite gifted at baking cakes and pies. She has been persuaded to open a small kiosk at the local shopping center and sell them for profit. She gets up early in her day and begins to prepare her product. The night before she had decided to make a particular dessert that required proofing of the dough for several hours. So, she took care of that part that same night. All she had to do that morning was bake that along with the other items. She goes out to her kiosk, which she had already taken the necessary steps to legally set up and sell her items. That day she makes enough money to not only purchase the new oven she had been desiring, but also had much left over. Why was she successful? She was prepared! Notice who was in control of that preparation…she was.
Now let’s take that same baker. However, this time let’s add the fact that her mindset has been shaped by the actions & words of people throughout her life who did nothing but procrastinate. She decides she wants some extra money. She had been told time and time again that she can set up the kiosk and sell her goods for profit. All she would have to do is follow some simple legal steps for the permit, prepare her product, and set up the kiosk and she would be on her way to success. She never researched what was needed for the permit. “I can do that tomorrow” she says. “I don’t plan to start selling until next month.” Since she procrastinated on her research, she’s unaware of the amount of time she needs to be granted the permit. In addition, she never sits down to prepare a plan for what she plans to bake and sell. She also never determines the amount of money that she will be selling her goods for so she can assure herself of a profit. She doesn’t consider the time it will take, the ingredients needed, or if there will be some special ingredient needed that requires a set amount of time to obtain. She does nothing to prepare but continuously puts off every requirement and responsibility. Procrastination at its finest. Eventually, several months have passed. She still does not have the extra money she desired. Her friend that suggested the idea had originally arranged for a master level chef who happens to own a five star eating establishment in their area to come and sample some of her goods. The chef has been looking for a master baker for his new restaurant and plans to pay a hefty salary. All of these things, along with a promotion and many other benefits were well within her reach and completely under her control. Why did she not get them? Procrastination. She chose to befriend her worst enemy instead of exercise preparation. Do you see how her situation exists by no one’s doing but her own? Can you see how this has kept her in a stagnant place as opposed to advancement? Who can she blame? No one. The very place she is currently is a product of her own choices and actions.

Take The Helm!

You may be asking yourself what can be done about it. How can it be changed? Is it too late? What can I do about something that has already been planted for so long? No individual has control over the words that were spoken around them as a child, or the environments they were placed in by those who were responsible for them. These are all valid questions, but one does not remain a child for their entire life. Sooner or later, you become an adult. It is at that point you have to start taking control over the information that you allow to come into your life. While these questions may seem to lead to impossible situations, they are but simple, & pointless inquiries that have their roots in fear. The better question would be: Where and how do I start? I once sat in a meeting where a gentleman was teaching a group of men and he made this statement: “Becoming a man begins with the acceptance of responsibility.” I never looked it up so I don’t know if he was quoting someone else or if it was just something he had learned throughout his life, but those words stuck with me. They helped me to see that at some point in our life, the helm, the steering wheel, the handle bars, the reins…complete and total control of our life and its outcome will be presented to us; and if we desire at that time to be an adult, we must accept them. Consider the tree. It must be planted and afterwards takes many years to become the towering shade producing and sometimes fruit producing specimen that it does. Yet, in a matter of minutes, one person can come with a chain saw and bring it down to nothing. Given the extra amount of time, they can even dig up the roots. Hence removing that tree from existence. Then after something else can be planted in its place. Our minds are no different. Whatever has been planted and taken root in our minds, it can be rooted up and replaced with that which produces a more desirable fruit or outcome. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 15:13 – “Every plant which My Heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up.” How do you up root something planted in your mind? You use the exact same process that put it there in the first place. Only this time, you take the helm. You control the words you hear. You control what images you see. You control which environments you spend your time in. Eventually, you will see that the new information will start to override the old information. Why? It’s simple, your mind is designed to grow and produce whatever you put into it.
Your mind is one of the most fertile grounds in existence. There is nothing that goes into it that it will not grow and produce. This is why it is imperative that you learn and make daily efforts to feed your mind good data and information so that it will grow and produce good things. You must cultivate and develop it to its fullest potential. In doing so you will start to see that whether the end result and output is good or bad, it all came to pass by thine own hand. You either took control, or you gave the control to everyone else.

Be Blessed.