Our Thoughts Determine our Life

At Pentecost, we are reminded of the glorious gifts the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the faithful.  We are reminded that God wants to be in relationship with us, and He wants the message of the “good news” that lives in our hearts spread to all nations.  We are reminded that God wants to nurture and direct our thoughts, words, actions, habits, character, and destiny to the path of love, compassion and life in Christ!

I found this quote by Charles Reade that invites us to be concerned of the thoughts we entertain.  “Watch your thoughts, they become words.  Watch your words, they become action.  Watch your actions, they become habits.  Watch your habits, they become your character.  Watch your character, it becomes your destiny”.

Indeed, we are created in God’s image, and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit:  good thoughts and ‘life ‘should’ flow out of us’!  Thoughts become our destiny and life!  That is why our Church reminds us at Pentecost that the Holy Spirit wants to touch and ignite our hearts to be motivated and directed by thoughts that empowered the Holy Apostles, thoughts filled by God’s Holy Fire.  

The simple fishermen became transfigured and were engulfed with the Holy fire of God’s love, and they changed the world with their thoughts and words.  The same Holy Spirit wants to stir up our life, to rekindle and to fan the flame in our hearts to burn with His love so we can allow living water to flow from our hearts and irrigate the world with His virtues.

 And to allow God’s living water to flow from our heart, we must desire it with all our heart.  We must know that we are thirsty for His love and thirsty for His help so we can ask Him for drink to quench our thirst.  If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and I will give him drink.  This is a promise and Christ’s drink heals and changes lives. 

 One way of knowing if we are drinking of this living water, and if this life of living water is flowing out of us is to pay attention watching to see if our thoughts are ‘feeding’ our soul or if our thoughts are ‘eating’ at our soul.  God wants our thoughts to be guided, inspired and motivated by the Holy Spirit to heal and feed our soul. 

We must train our heart to tune into the frequency of the Holy Spirit through prayer, fasting, going to church, living His word.  When that happens, the Holy Spirit will help us respond to the challenges, the joys, and all that comes in life’s journey in a real way.  When we tune into this frequency we will speak with the fruits of the Holy Spirit, not from anger, anxiety, fear, worry. Please know that when we are constantly being fed by the frequency of fear, anger, frustration, panic, anxiety or depression, we are being tuned into thoughts that hurt and eat at our soul. 

I am not saying you are bad, or that there is no hope.  What I am saying is that we need to find a new way to practice tuning into the frequency that offers new solutions to old problems.  New responses to life, new thoughts that help heal our relationships, our family, or our own attitude of life and self! 

The fathers of the church constantly remind us that our thoughts determine our life.  The thoughts that we entertain and believe shape who we are and how we live life.  Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos says thoughts are divided into two categories, one of the fly and the other of a bee. 

The main characteristic of the fly is that it is attracted by dirt.  For example, when a fly is found in a garden full of flowers with beautiful fragrances, it will ignore them and will go sit on top of some dirt found on the ground.  It will start messing around with it and feel comfortable with the bad smell.

 If the fly could talk, and you asked it to show you a rose in the garden, it would answer: "I don't even know what a rose looks like.  I only know where to find garbage, toilets, and dirt."  There are some people who resemble the fly. People belonging to this category have learned to think negatively, and always look for the bad things in life, ignoring and refusing the presence of good.

The other category is like the bee whose main characteristic is to always look for something sweet and nice to sit on.  When a bee is found in a room full of dirt and there is a small piece of sweet in a corner, it will ignore the dirt and will go to sit on top of the sweet.  

Now, if we ask the bee to show us where the garbage is, it will answer: "I don't know.  I can only tell you where to find flowers, sweets, honey and sugar; it only knows the good things in life and is ignorant of all evil."  This is the second category of people who have a positive way of thinking, and see only the good side of things.  

 Let us honor our Lord’s beloved Holy Apostles by striving to become like the bee seeking the good, the sweet, the holy.  Let us tune our heart to the frequency that guides our life with love, with joy and peace.  Let us ask God to guide and inspire our thoughts and words so we may act wisely without embarrassing, embittering, or judging others or ourself!

Blessings,

+fr. tom