Guarding Thoughts

“Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life.” Proverbs 4.23 (CEV)

The Buddha said, “What we think, we become.” I was at a conference last month where that truth was publicly demonstrated. The workshop presenter (a professional musician) asked for a volunteer who honestly believed he or she had no singing ability.

One courageous soul came forward, and after having her sing a line of a familiar and easy song, it was clear that singing was not her gift. She seemed to have no sense of pitch. The presenter then asked her to simply hold this thought in mind, “I am the greatest singer in the world.” She felt silly at first, since she had just demonstrated that she was perhaps the worst singer in the room! But she courageously went through with the experiment, and to her own amazement, she sang the song perfectly! By holding the thought, “I am the greatest singer in the world,” and not letting any opposing thought enter in, she instantly became a good singer.

People who lose weight successfully tell us the key to their success was changing their thoughts about food. Relationships have been healed simply by the parties involved being willing to think differently about one another.

As children we heard the wonderful story of a little engine that is asked to pull a long train over a steep mountain. The engine appears to be too small for the task, but manages to successfully pull the train by saying over and over during the attempt, “I think I can, I think I can…” The lesson we were meant to learn is that if we think we can, we probably can. Conversely, if we think we can’t, we right again.

Whatever we are facing, the thoughts we choose to think and the feelings those thoughts produce will guide us toward success, or away from it. So, we must “carefully guard [our] thoughts…” After all, what we think, we become.


Prayer: I will choose thoughts this week that support my lofty goals and good desires. I will continuously think, ‘I can,’ and therefore, I will accomplish what I set out to do. I am now guarding my thoughts, and knowing that I become what I continually think about, I choose thoughts of success, abundance, hope, healing, and joy. I think I can, and so it is that I know I can. Amen.

(c) Durrell Watkins, 2007