What's your meditation?

     Okay, I know I'm a bit mountain-obsessed, but while happening to glance at some photos from earlier this summer, I could almost feel the cool, clean air and hear the ever-present peaceful sound of rushing waters...

     Ahhh...remembering and contemplating the mountains immediately lowers your blood pressure,  settles your nerves, and reinvigorates your gratitude.  The majesty of those verdant hills, the glory of that dancing stream, the serene beauty of those trees and rhododendron remain day after day, year after year.  There they stand...but we are the ones who leave them behind and forget when we go home to the busy "real world."  Yet at any moment, day or night, we can return in our mind's eye.
     Isn't it funny how simply thinking about such a beloved place can revive a flagging spirit or calm a ragged heart?
     That's the power of this amazing mind the Lord has given us.  And He's bestowed upon us the daily, the hourly, the moment by moment choice as to how we'll use this gift.  Will we meditate and marinate in our worries, our frustrations, and our irritations?  Or will we contemplate and ruminate on our mighty God and the wonders of His goodness, His grace, His gifts, and His Gospel?
     Because what we're thinking about, what captures our minds, what we're meditating upon determines how we will respond to life's challenges.
     Our minds are always, always, always working.  We are constantly thinking and focusing upon something...the key question is: what.
     I once heard Paul Tripp put it this way (or at least a paraphrase): "I need to be more conscious about what has captured my meditation.  Is my meditation captured by the difficulties of life and that's what is occupying my mind in all the moments when my mind isn't on task.  Or is my meditation formed by the glory of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?"
     My meditation determines my attitude.  My meditation directs my actions.  My meditation decides my responses.  And my meditation--when focused upon God--can bring great delight, gratitude and joy in the challenging or exhausting or even discouraging moments of life.
     Again, Paul Tripp: "No one is more influential in your life than you are...because no one talks to yourself more than you do!  You will meditate on something; you will be captured by something; you will preach something to yourself.  Preach the heart of Christian Truth--the Gospel of God's grace!"
     That's exactly what the Psalmist does in Psalm 42.  He's discouraged and frustrated.  Life is tough--"My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me all the day long, 'Where is your God?'" (42:3)  BUT, the Psalmist goes on to preach himself a little sermon, as he remembers God's never-failing goodness--"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God." (42:5)
      Good stuff!  God has given us this powerful, amazing weapon to fight the forces of darkness that tempt us to worry, complain, envy, despair, doubt.  And as believers, we carry that weapon with us everywhere we go--we have the mind of Christ.  We have the remarkable gift of our minds...but infinitely greater--we have the gift of the Holy Spirit who infuses and fills those minds with the power, provision and presence of Almighty God.
      But we have to choose--moment by moment--to think rightly.  To think biblically.  To think and meditate upon the goodness, grace, and glory of our Redeemer.  We have to choose what and Who will capture our meditations.
     Oh Father, help us to choose wisely!
     To God be the glory.