Lois, my mother in law, enjoys watching the varied birds that visit her yard. She has spent many moments enjoying their antics from her kitchen window as they frolic and splash in the backyard birdbath. Recently, however, she’s discovered there’s a down side to her feathered friends. Two birds enjoyed her yard so much they built a nest near her front door. At first she welcomed the addition, that is, until they began to leave her little messy presents all over the sidewalk and door mat. As visitors they were fun but as permanent residents they’d become a nuisance. Thoughts are a lot like birds. They flit in and out of our mind all day going wherever they will. Many emerge from our lighter side but others, the harmful ones hatch from eggs of darkness. They too come in many varities and enter without our permission. One shouts a message of envy over a friend’s good fortune while another brings moans of sexual desire toward someone not our spouse. A different one whispers fears about the future while still another carries self-doubt and hopelessness in its beak. Those that draw from the darkness within have great potential to do us harm. The longer they fly around our mind, the more damage they cause.
When we dwell on unhealthy thoughts, we encourage them to remain. We can’t control if and when these dark creatures fly into our consciousness but we can stop them from building nests. We can chase them away as soon as they arrive. If a bird takes up residence in an undesired location, they are caught and relocated. So too must we take our unhealthy thoughts captive as soon as they flitter into our mind and replace them with Godly ones following the precepts of Philippians 4:8 which tells us "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.”
Some unhealthy thoughts may be such a regular part of our self-talk that multiple generations of these dark creatures have shared the same nest. The longer they live within us, the more damaging and the harder they are to eradicate. But if we are intentional, with the power of the Holy Spirit living inside us and the strength of God’s word, every one can be eradicated.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10: 5
