Leaky Brain
A slow leak points to an integrity breach, or structural compromise. Recently I was addressing a leak in my toilet tank due to gaskets that were loose. As I changed out the screws and “over tightened” them, the porcelain cracked causing a greater problem.
I got to thinking that this can happen in our busy minds, we can have a leak that becomes a slow drip. How does this happen?
In Jeremiah 2:13 shares that we can have a puncture in our cisterns. Through wear and tear, neglect or trauma we can crack or damage the way we receive. The crack results in loss of retention and we forget what was placed in our hearts. Punctures can happen due to pride, or fear or shame and anxiety can enlarge that crack.
A leaky brain is punctured due to being over extended without soul care. Output can put a strain on us without balanced input. It is easy to get distracted in the moment and forget the long track record of god’s faithfulness… The psalmist in Psalms 103:2 writes:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…”
Often we forget what the lord has done because we don’t fellowship with it and focus on it.
Address the leak
Acknowledge the leak is the first step. Because of a “crowded brain” it is easy to have info go through one ear and out the other. Superficiality is the result.
We can be stretched a mile wide and be an inch deep when God has called us to live a subterranean Christian life. Identify all that is in opposition to stealing from you and give authority to things that make you whole again.
Grace thinking heals our minds. Grace brings in God’s mind and we “take a step forward” to focus on the things that produce life in Philippians 4:8. God has promised to give us a healthy and sound mind in 2 Timothy 1:7.
Read: 5 Powerful Reasons We All Need Reminders
Meditation causes us to roll around truth in our minds and it reminds us of what has been stored in our hearts and brings that to a focal point. I remember putting in “Fix a flat” into my son’s flat bike tire and how it coated the inner tube, sealing the leak, so that it could keep the air.
Here is an acronym, S.M.A.R.T that helps with moving forward.
- Start where you are. Be intentional now.
- Make an effort. Do what you can do now.
- Act intentionally. Small things can have big results.
- Remember the promise. The promise helps bring perspective
- Things take time. Enjoy the journey.
As we get older we all are holding onto memories and retaining the important things that we hold dear. We guard our mind and appropriate what we know to think and walk in wisdom.
Honesty
It is easy to be a spiritual “handyman” to try to fix people and ourselves, but people are not projects. Honesty is the starting point of healing, being open to ourselves and others, brings in clarity to what is really important. Often, when people are honest, the person listening can be quick to shut them down by coming up with a solution to “fix” them.
An agape relationship is when someone can share without being judged or criticized in an atmosphere of love. We learn God’s love by receiving it for ourselves. I Corinthians 13:5 writes “….love thinks no evil,” The authority of god’s love bears, endures and believes all things and thinks no evil. God loves never is in opposition to us. In our good and bad times His love never diminishes or fails us.
Newness
Grace is always creating something new in our life. The more that we receive it the more we experience it. Introducing and embracing new thoughts that build where we want to be, can detangle all the things that cause complication.
God’s mercy is new every moment, never been used, ready to bring you to a new place in your thinking.
Jason is a graduate from Maryland Bible College and Seminary, and presently he leads the Pastoral Care Team of Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. Since age 16, Jason has been involved with mission work among the former Soviet-Bloc countries in Eastern Europe, as well as in Asia, and in the United States. While living in Ukraine, he helped church plant three new churches that continue to thrive today under trained nationals. He has also written five books and has his own podcast (tinyurl.com/IRpodcast)
