Turning Our Tunneling Tendency Into A Tool
Oh the tunneling nature of thoughts.
Ever misinterpreted what someone said (or even more likely, texted) and let your thoughts of offense tunnel into an entire court case in your head with evidence of why you’re right and they’re wrong?
Ever had a knot on your muscle and before you knew it you were googling masses and forming plans for every “what if” out there?
Ever thought too much about a decision that just needs to be made quickly, and found yourself spending days on pros and cons lists, rendering yourself incapable of making ANY decision because you then continue to tunnel into the cons of each option?
Yeah, I’m guilty of this kind of “tunneling” thinking sometimes. Darn tunnel is never ending too! It’s a bottomless pit!
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But you know what??
Have you ever heard that our enemy, Satan, takes what God meant for our good and tries to pervert it into something bad for us? He isn’t creative, he just copies.
He tries to turn the believing-in-what-we-don’t-yet-see FAITH capability God gave us, into fear.
He tries to turn others-focused feelings of love into hate.
And he tries to turn our ability to tunnel into deeper and deeper thoughts of God and his wisdom, positivity….into pessimism.
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Sometimes when we are in the middle of less-than-positive-feeling circumstances or thought patterns it’s hard to imagine the things we hope for.
Sometimes it’s easier to see what the enemy is doing than what God is working on.
But God made us in his image, and just like he can work all things out for our good…we can choose not to get discouraged with our fleshy tendencies, and instead turn them around to agree with God, and become more like him, instead of our enemy.
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What does this “tunneling into positivity” look like in practice?
It all starts with one little, intentional thought.
In the Bible it says we enter into God’s presence with Thanksgiving and praise.
Not just when we feel like it, but sometimes when we don’t feel like it at all.
Sometimes when we can only think of one little thing to say thank you for… and that’s ok. We just need the one, to start.
Here’s an example:
I used to hate housework. I used to walk around stewing in my brain saying things in my head like “This is a bunch of crap that I’m the only one who does the dishes, or vacuums, or knows how to change empty TP rolls…nobody in this house appreciates me. I wonder what they’d do if I just left for a week… mom Beach trip anyone?? And what if something did happen to me and I had to be away not by choice longer? Would my husband even know how to pay the bills and would my children ever be able to take care of their own families when they grow up??….”
See how fast that escalated?
Ridiculous, I know.
But also I’m betting many people can relate.
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Now let me show you what God has been teaching me and why I actually enjoy my housework time now:
It all began with a confession, an intentional thought. “I need Jesus.” I was sick and tired of anxiety, and all I wanted was God’s peace, but it had become clear I couldn’t attain it on my own.
In the Bible it says “Enter into his presence with thanksgiving and praise.”
It also says “He will keep in perfect peace those whose thoughts are fixed on him.”
So…I decided to try it out, even when I didn’t feel like it.
I started with a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise- (saying thank you even when I didn’t feel like it)- and then- by accident the first time- not realizing it was a recipe that ALWAYS can make me feel better- I started to tunnel those thankful thoughts.
Really I just wanted something to distract me from the natural, fleshly, negative dialogue in my head.
So I started like this:
Thank you God for these dishes (even though at the time, I was not happy to be washing them by hand since our dishwasher had been broke for a year 😂 just being real here.)
Thank you for running water in my house to wash them with.
Thank you for my family that helps me dirty them. Especially these kids I prayed for!
Thank you for my husband, and that the reason he hasn’t fixed the dishwasher yet is he comes home tired because he works so hard to provide for me and our kids. (Since then, God bless her, my mom bought us a dishwasher as a Christmas gift and literally every time I use it I now thank God for that gift, and for my mom. ❤️)
Thanks that we have food.
Thanks for how you always provide for us.
Thanks for the good seasons we have had where there’s a lot of eating out, and vacations, and thank you for character we learn in the slow seasons, like contentment and creativity in finding new things to do and new foods to prepare at home. Thank you for the opportunity to gather together for meals, whether it be in a restaurant or at our dinner table, or even in the car on the go when life is busy.
Speaking of that, Thanks for all the opportunities we have…
And that can go on forever and ever too!
It’s a never-ending tunnel- of positivity, and instead of leading to a black hole, at the end is a light!
Isn’t this a beautiful metaphor for our life?
Tunneling, tunneling, tunneling…always on a journey…until we reach the end of the tunnel. And depending on our outlook, and what we expect of our final destination – this can either be scary, or it can give us an even-if kind of hope.
One thing is for sure-
entering the tunnel of God’s presence and his Hope sure makes chores move a lot more quickly, and with much more peace.
(Most of the time) I don’t even care who does them anymore. I’m just thankful I have a house that even needs cleaned and a family that can even be considered as part of my circle that I get to care for.
I slip up still sometimes.
And I’m better at remembering this with the chores thing than some other areas of life, just because I’ve been practicing it every day for a few years now.
But that’s life.
Always growing.
Always tunneling.
And even if we don’t FEEL like it, always in control of at least o.n.e. thing: our perspective.
Which way will we tunnel?
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