by Sandra Scott
I was feeling totally ineffective. After three days of concentrated effort on an important project, I just couldn’t seem to center my thinking on my research. My thoughts kept ricocheting around in circles. Instead of focusing on my work, I found myself thinking up grocery lists, wondering if the mail had arrived, answering my e-mail, and finally coming back to my project. It felt like a never-ending ride on the Tilt-a-Whirl!
Finally, feeling completely frustrated, I decided to stop trying to rein in my circular thinking and take in some fresh views. I did this literally by heading outdoors for a walk and spiritually by turning to God in listening prayer. I hoped prayer and a change of viewpoint would put my thinking in more productive order.
The heavy snowfall covering the ground was rare in my neck of the woods. It had brought most everyone’s normal activities to a halt. Pulling on my heavy jacket and dusty, seldom-used boots, I stepped out into the crisp air.
The scene was like a storybook just waiting to be read. The tracks in the snow were telling their stories to me as I walked along. A large dog had crossed the ditch here, heading southeast across the yard. A squirrel had come down that tree, stopped to dig mightily through the icy white snow looking for food and returned home with its prize.
There a neighborhood cat had actually scaled the tall fence and picked its way across the patio to our back window. I wondered how long we had been its fishbowl before it took off under the deck going south? And my no longer dusty boots, crunching along in the snow, were adding to the story.
I marveled at how each of the tracks I saw had a purposeful, ordered direction. None of those creatures had been going around in circles. Each one had taken a straight purposeful path. It felt like this storybook scene was a way that God was letting me know that He gets things done. He doesn’t lead us around in frustrating circles, but brings order and purpose to everything that He accomplishes. Glancing behind me, I was a little amused to see that even my own footprints were tracking along a direct path. The order and sense of purpose again struck me.
What more trustworthy source for ordered thinking could there be than God who is infinite Mind? So, it seemed to me, I could trust Mind to guide my thoughts. It felt very natural to accept that because all our good ideas originate with God, the creator of all that is good, they are never hidden or elusive. I realized the ideas I needed to finish my project were already available, ordered, and ready for use. And because I was Mind’s reflection, my thoughts couldn’t be whirling around ineffectively, but had to be concise and orderly.
Actually, my ability to follow a logical course of thinking in order to accomplish the work was very much like the snowy tracks of those animals. Their straight paths had led them to some goal, and following God’s ordered thinking would lead me to mine.
It was like being reassured by a very gentle, logical, caring Father saying, “You can do it. Follow me. I will lead the way.” As I climbed the hill heading back toward my desk, I felt a spiritual uplift happening in my thinking. I found I was actually eager to get back to work.
With this heightened viewpoint leading me on, I was ready to listen to Mind for new ideas that would lead my thinking purposefully towards the completion of my project. It was almost like that adventure in the snow, to see what good ideas would become evident next. At work again I found I really was able to focus exclusively on my work and very happy to find that in short order the project was finished.
Now, the temperature has returned to normal. All the snowy storybook tracks have melted away and along with them the busy history they told. But, for me the spiritual insight remains. I love knowing that just as the lively, purposeful activity I saw expressed didn’t end with the melting snow; the guidance God is giving each of us is available now and forever.
King James Bible
Science and Health
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Thank you for this inspirational article. I really need to walk in such straight tracks!