Think!
In the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George goes to his Uncle Billy in his effort to find $8,000 that has turned up missing from the Building and Loan. When Billy fumbles for an answer, George says, “Think, Uncle Billy! Think!”
Uncle Billy responds, “I can’t think anymore, George. I can’t think anymore. It hurts!”
I think children feel that way sometimes when they have tried and tried to learn something that their brains are not ready to learn. Ray and I knew an older person who was taking care of his wife with dementia. He told us one time, “I have to do all the thinking.” When a friend of ours went back to work for the first day after being sick with COVID, he told us that he was very, very tired — of thinking. He said that recovered co-workers had told him the same thing about their own symptoms.
Do you ever get so overwhelmed with some issue—or all the issues you are facing—that you get tired of thinking? After Paul talks about those comforting concepts—joy, gentle, near, ask, peace—he says, “Finally . . . ” Finally, what? Finally, this is what you need to be thinking about . . . .
Do you often start a day with a list of things to do.? Perhaps our list of things to do ought to include a list of things to think about. Wouldn’t that make our days a whole lot better? Thinking about what is on the list in Philippians 4:8 will certainly help us in our anxieties and fears. It is also an excellent standard for what we include in and exclude from our children’s homeschool.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence
and if anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Philippians 4:8