Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Week Thirty-Two - Well, Hit Me Between the Eyes!

Beside the Well
            I decided to go ahead and share with you another thought that hit me between the eyes as I read Switch On Your Brain, by Caroline Leaf.  I was going to try to explain some science here but maybe I’ll be safer to let you read what she said! 
            “After the gathering stage (where we gather up our thoughts), the electromagnetic signals—your thinking and those existing memories that have been brought into consciousness—speed through the hippocampus, moving toward the front of the brain—the basal forebrain and orbitofrontal cortex, which are behind the inside corners of your eyes and above your eyebrows respectively. The information flows through in the hippocampus for twenty-four to forty-eight hours, constantly being amplified each time it cycles to the front.” (Pages 173, 174)
            Okay.  Got that? What you think about comes to the front of your head—right between your eyes!  There the thought process cycles around as you mull it over.  So the Scripture you have memorized and the things you have learned through your Christian life can be gathered up when you need strength.
            Since I’m no scientist, it all seems rather strange, but since I am a Biblicist, it makes better sense. 
            The Israelites wore a thing called a frontlet, a decorative band or ornament worn on the forehead.  They would copy out passages of the law onto strips of parchment or leather and wrap this into the band—literally placing God’s Word between their eyes.  I’ve even seen pictures of these as little boxes hanging just above the eyes from a headband.
            In Deuteronomy 6:5-9, God’s instruction was to keep His word before them at all times.  It was to be at the front of their mind!  Right between their eyes! They were to meditate on it!  To talk about it, teach it, and write it on their house posts and gates.
            Why? Because every time the word was rehearsed through the window of their eyes, through the channel of their ears, and by the physical reminder of the frontlet, they were amplifying the flow of information.  It was being driven deeper into their hearts and would come out in their lives.
            We are no different. What we think about, we become.  That is why healthy thought processes are so vital to a vigorous Christian life.  What we rehearse in our minds, read with our eyes, and listen to with our ears is amplified over and over.  If we allow our mind to just wander aimlessly or keep it on a steady diet of junk that is going to come out in our lives and choices.   If we seek to create a conscious awareness of our thoughts and control them by Scriptural dictates, God’s word promises blessing and stability.
            Sounds to me like we need to be really selective about what we allow our mind to dwell on!

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