An Unfamiliar Voice

Who would leave the doors of their house wide open? 

If you’re like me, I keep my front door bolted.

When I go to sleep at night, I alarm my doors in case of an intruder.

I choose whom I want in MY house. 

When I hear a knock at the front door at night, I turn on the porch light just to get a good look at who’s out there through the door’s peephole. 

An unfamiliar voice might speak through the door, telling me that they want to sell me something; however, I’ll only talk to them through the locked door. 

I’m more concerned about my own family’s safety than hurting a stranger’s feelings.

I once knew a person who let an unannounced stranger into her house. 

The stranger then asked her questions concerning the whereabouts of an acquaintance. 

To get the answers, the stranger pointed a loaded gun to her 4-year-old daughter’s head. 

It was a very frightening experience for her. I guess that’s why I’m so conscious of strangers at MY door. 

In the same way, we can’t leave the door of our conscious minds wide open. 

If we allow thoughts to wander in and out, they can cause a lot of damage.

We’ve done or said something that we regret, and before it’s all over we’ve harmed a relationship.

Before the advent of TV, people really enjoyed reading books. 

Using their imaginations, they had to visualize the action. 

In their minds, they constructed the character’s appearance, the setting, and the story line taking place. 

Through their habit of reading, they were forced to exercise their imaginations just to enjoy the book. 

Now instead of reading, people just drop on the couch, turn on the tube, and try to stay awake. 

Their imaginations have become lazy by a lack of use. 

They’re just mindlessly viewing the program; however, it plays out.

We have to be cautious not to approach life like we watch TV. 

We should be scriptwriters, and not just viewers watching life happen. 

I'd like to talk about your life’s script and the instrument that you’ll need to author it. 

This instrument or pencil is your imagination, which is the ability to erase what is currently in your life and to author what will be. 

Use your imagination to film a mental VISUAL movie of you reaching your goals. 

Repetitively, watch that movie until it becomes more real to you than your current situation.

An obstacle to us using our imaginations productively is a misunderstanding of the definitions of pride and humility. 

Most of us were taught as children not to behave arrogantly or pride fully. 

Because of this, we feel uncomfortable when we think well of our selves. 

Humility is not maintaining negative thoughts about ourselves, but making room in our thoughts for the needs of others. 

In other words, humility is not being self centered.

Another obstacle in using our imaginations positively is how we are trained from childhood. 

Many parents, educators, and employers, train on the negative side. 

For example, I have a Shetland Sheep dog named Shadow. 

When she was about two years old, I realized that she didn’t even know her name. 

Because I usually communicated to her negatively through the use of the word “NO”, she apparently began to think her name was “NO”. 

If I said “No”, she would come to me; however, if I called her by her name, she’d look at me with a blank stare. We have to guard against communicating in negatives. 

In the same way, most of our training comes from instructors telling us what NOT to do. 

Now, we identify and feel more comfortable with negativity just like Shadow. 

For this reason, we have more practice using our imaginations on the negative side because of our training.

Most of us have a very active imagination on the negative side. This is called worry. 

Because our minds are so thoroughly trained to think negatively, we begin to see ourselves performing poorly in almost every situation. 

When the situation arises, we recall those mental pictures of us failing, and then we act accordingly. 

Thinking negatively causes us to replay past failures over and over in our minds, which engraves in our thoughts what we actually don’t want to happen.

We CAN overcome a negative mindset. 

First, we need to lighten up on ourselves, forgive ourselves when we do fail, and then dismiss it from our minds altogether. 

If you’ve messed up, be honest and ask forgiveness from others if needed, and then move on. 

Don’t carry today’s failures into tomorrow, or replay those mistakes over and over again in your mind. 

Next, learn to celebrate your victories. 

It’s okay to replay over and over again the things that you did well. In fact, this is really an important habit to practice. 

Remember the reason that you might feel odd doing this is that you’re overcoming a negative mindset.

A negative mindset keeps you from setting your goals, (which should be based upon specific promises in the Word of God since He made you), and completing your life script. 

After all, a negative mind will take the position that when you don’t achieve a goal that you’ll only feel bad. 

I say MAKE A DECISION to replace your negative thought patterns with positive ones. 

Set your goals and live your dreams. 

Rehearse them over and over in your mind just like you’re reading a good book about you. 

Remember, what’s real IN you becomes real TO you.

Don’t merely float downstream, as if you’re helplessly watching life like a TV show. Pick up your mental oars and row. 

Your oars are your imagination and your goals. Only by using them will you reach your destiny. 

Rowing upstream is difficult because you’re paddling against the current; however, just like anything else your mental muscles will strengthen with use.
And this hope is what saves us. But if we already have what we hope for, there is no need to keep hoping. 
Romans 8:24. (CEV)

M. H. Dennis