What you think about the most becomes the lens through which you view the world!
TaDa!! Here you can see my socks! And you will never guess what my very first “blink” reaction is every time I look down and see my socks.
Tree rings!
Don’t you think they look like tree rings??
Our professor in our forestry class has been teaching us to read tree rings. He brought several different wood “pie” slices in to class and explained what had happened in the life of each tree, according to what we were seeing in the rings.
Excited to try this out for myself, I went out behind our workshop and I took a look at this particular log. Much to my astonished amazement … I could tell what had happened in the life of this particular tree.
Notice the very epicenter of this log. Emanating out from it are nice evenly spaced rings for about 8-rings-worth. This would be the first 8-years of this tree’s life. For the first 8-years or so, this tree had plenty of room to grow. Plenty of light. Plenty of space.
Then you notice that the rings on the left side get really closely spaced together, while the rings on the right side continue to remain evenly-spaced, for the most part. What happened??
The left side of this tree did not have enough room to grow. In some way, the left side of the tree was crowded, which in turn was evidenced in its compacted growth rings. Whereas the right side of the tree still had plenty of room to expand and grow.
Perhaps you are wondering: “What might this look like in real life? … if the tree were still standing?”
I’m glad you asked. I just so happened to notice these two trees, as I was walking loops around my drive for exercise. I’m guessing these two trees have very similar growth rings inside as the log pictured above. See how these trees are compacted together, not giving any space on the adjoining side for either tree to expand or grow?
Obviously, I have been thinking a lot about trees … hence, whenever I look down and see my socks, I instantly think “tree rings.”
My fellow forestry classmates have also been thinking a lot about trees recently too. One gentleman in our class shared that whenever his daughter now watches her tv shows about “Big Foot” and such, the only thing he notices in the videos is the forest in the background … and he can’t help but study how healthy vs. not healthy the trees are. Haha!
Others in my forestry class have shared that whenever they go places nowadays, they can’t help but notice forest stands which are too crowded, or crown-to-height ratios, or invasive weeds, etc.
What you think about the most becomes the lens through which you view the world!
My forestry classmates and I have been thinking about trees … which in turn, has now become the lens through which we are viewing our world.
What are you thinking about??
Whatever you are thinking about the most, is the lens through which you are viewing your world.
The world around us has a lot of bad going on right now. Just a lot of bad ick! If we scroll through the news headlines, it’s nothing but a lot of badness and ick!
Are you filling your mind with all the badness and ick??
Are you choosing to focus on the badness and ick??
It will impact you.
It will become the lens through which you then view everything else in life.
If you continually fill your mind with the negative … the worrisome … the fearful … it will impact you.
Negativity will become the lens through which you view the world.
Fear will become the lens through which you view the world.
Worry will become the lens through which you view the world.
“But,” you might be saying, “badness and ick is all there is in the world. There’s nothing else to think about.”
If we love and follow Jesus Christ, God has commanded us to control our mind. God has given us clear instructions to guard our mind.
For sure, there might be nothing but badness and ick going on in the world around us, but that doesn’t mean we need to continually think about it all the time.
God tells us to think about things which are good … and right … and true … and honorable. (Philippians 4:8) And as we do … God’s peace will fill our mind. God’s peace will be with us! God’s peace will guard and protect our mind!
Be very careful and deliberate about what you choose to let your mind linger on … dwell on … think about.
Because what you think about the most will become the lens through which you view the world!
