Grow with God: Cud-Chewing

Imagine a lovely scene of contented black and white cows, lazing around in a field of wildflowers. So serene and so very country. Aren’t they adorable? But wait. Do you know what these little lovelies do? They spend a lot of time chewing and chewing and chewing. It’s called ruminating, a necessity for their digestion. Yuck. What a mental image that brings to mind!

Sadly, we, too, sometimes ruminate--on hurts, injustices, or negative circumstances. You know the scenario: we replay a conversation over and over, nursing our hurt feelings and imagining all sorts of clever, forceful responses. It’s devastating and we don’t even realize we’re doing it

God has a better plan for our minds that is expressed beautifully in these words:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things….And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4: 8 & 9)

30 Days to Establish a Good Habit

It’s not easy overcoming the destructive habit of negative rumination but we can be proactive in eliminating it from our minds.

Ask God to alert us when we dwell on negative situations and then confess it as a sin.
Replace the negative thoughts with a verse of scripture or praise song.
Pray for the person who is at the center of our thoughts and experience sweet relief.

Freedom from the devastating practice of rehashing, chewing, and ruminating old hurts leads to inner peace.

Maybe the rural image of cows doesn’t cut it for you. Think instead of instant replay. Years ago an NFL player suffered a horrific tackle resulting in a serious leg break needing extensive surgery. The cameras caught the graphic incident on film from many angles and they replayed it over and over—throughout the rest of the game and then throughout the following several weeks. It was excruciating to watch. The player himself must have cringed from his hospital bed every time the tape ran. His loved ones probably refused to look at it anymore. I know I did.

That’s what we do in our minds whether we’re remembering a major tragedy or a minor infraction to our egos. We run the instant replay DVD over and over. We may think we have the hurt all splinted up and on the road to healing but then we replay it in our minds and become spiritually paralyzed.

A good question to ask: "Do my thoughts reach the standards set in this scripture verse from Philippians?" Cows and Instant Replay. Both are enemies to peaceful living.