Bear In Mind

So many times our lives are not fruitful because we’re worried about other things. Negativity about others, hateful self-talk, or doomsday scenarios run wildly through our minds. No wonder it’s hard to do the deep work of letting God’s good fruit be formed in us.

There’s a verse that’s often been used against Christians to say they need to think better thoughts, cleaner thoughts, higher thoughts. Today, what if you took it as an invitation to slow down your thinking. To pause. To wonder out loud to Jesus about the sorts of things that run through your mind. So ponder this verse. And then enjoy the poem as a frivolous yet insightful doorway into prayer today.

Take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:5

Bear In Mind

by John Martin

A bear is chasing me through a meadow
and I’m running as fast as I can but
he’s gaining on me—it seems
he’s always gaining on me.
I’m running and running but also
thinking I should just
turn around and say,
“Stop it! Stop chasing me. We both
know you aren’t going to catch me.
All you can ever do is chase me. So,
think about it—why bother?”

The bear does stop,
and he sits on his haunches and thinks,
or seems to think. And then
the bear says to me,
“I have to chase you, you know
that. Or you should. And, sure,
we both know I’ll never catch you.
So, why not give us both a break and
just stop thinking about me?”

But, with that said, he gets back on four feet,
sticks his long pink tongue out, licks down
both sides of his snout. Then he sighs, looks
behind himself, then at me and says, “Okay,
ready when you are.”

“Bear In Mind” by John Martin from Hold This. © Concrete Wolf Press, 2017