Things Above

Well, that was weird. I had the strangest dream last night. Most of it is lost forever in that place where all "dream parts" go - the dream junk yard. But I do remember some parts.  Like me fighting with Benedict Cumberbatch. Like I said, weird.

After I got up this morning I began to analyze my dream, basically asking myself, "Where the heck did THAT come from!?!"

I traced it back to a morphed picture I had seen of Mr. Cumberbatch on Facebook. Someone had taken a picture of his head and stretched it vertically so that he looked like an alien. At least a movie version of an alien and we always fight aliens in movies, right? Well, except for E.T.

I'm not sure why that image stuck in my mind. I wasn't aware that it had until my mind was allowed to wander in a state of early morning sleep.

Shortly after waking up this morning I was showering. Suddenly I found myself singing Blessed Assurance. Where did THAT come from?? Well, Sunday morning we attended that baptism of our granddaughter Emma. Blessed Assurance was one of the songs we sang.

Our minds seem to store things of note and play them back whenever it wants to. At least MY mind seems to work that way. That made me wonder, "What else is my mind thinking that I don't even know about?" That's scary!

And what is it we fill our minds with? We watch the news and hear horrible stories of death and war. We watch television shows about murder and rape, about greed and self-gratification. We are what we eat. Why are we eating THAT!?!

The answer to much of the world's problems can most likely be traced back to "what we eat" - what we consume on the television and through social media. Is that what we have become as a society? Consuming whatever comes at us on the conveyor belt? I think that's true.

The Bible tells us that we are empty vessels (2 Corinthians 4). What are we filling ourselves with? The answer is actually in the song I found myself singing this morning - Blessed Assurance.

"This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long."

The Bible also tells us this:

"3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians 3:1-3

Are our thoughts always on things above? Are we filling our minds and hearts with heavenly things? We should be. May we set our minds on things above, daily, hourly . . . as long as it is called "today."

Blessed Assurance - Third Day
Jealous Love - David Bush