"Whose mind is stayed on you"
I came across this verse that had been such an encouragement to me in high school and college but which I had laid by the wayside in grad school. There's no better time than now to re-remember.
During nightly prayers I notice that my mind can wander as I try to interpret the day's events or prepare for the next day. Sometimes I anguish over what's past or worry over what's to come when ironically I am praying and should be casting my cares on God. I've found it easy to pray, but not always so easy to pray to God, to truly stay my mind on him and trust in him. But when that happens, when my mind focuses less on myself and my perceived troubles, prayer becomes less of a repetitive, fruitless counsel with my own soul and more of a conversation with a warm and wise Father.
And here's another quotation, this one from my brother:
I hadn't thought of why God took so long to make this world. I guess he has, as the saying goes, all the time in the world. When he tells me to "stay" my mind on him, I suppose that doesn't mean to think about him for one prayer, or one day of fasting, or even one trial. He wants my mind to "stay" on him, for now and for days and for eons, knowing that he will be faithful and trustworthy for just as long and longer.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)
During nightly prayers I notice that my mind can wander as I try to interpret the day's events or prepare for the next day. Sometimes I anguish over what's past or worry over what's to come when ironically I am praying and should be casting my cares on God. I've found it easy to pray, but not always so easy to pray to God, to truly stay my mind on him and trust in him. But when that happens, when my mind focuses less on myself and my perceived troubles, prayer becomes less of a repetitive, fruitless counsel with my own soul and more of a conversation with a warm and wise Father.
And here's another quotation, this one from my brother:
A pastor once said that God likes to do things by process instead of instantaneously. For example, He could have made the heavens and earth in a split second, but He chose to take days or eons (depending on interpretation) to do it.
I hadn't thought of why God took so long to make this world. I guess he has, as the saying goes, all the time in the world. When he tells me to "stay" my mind on him, I suppose that doesn't mean to think about him for one prayer, or one day of fasting, or even one trial. He wants my mind to "stay" on him, for now and for days and for eons, knowing that he will be faithful and trustworthy for just as long and longer.
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