Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Paul wrote: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints - “ Ephesians 6:18, NKJV

Screeeeech!!! You have likely experienced the ear-rending howl of feedback on a P A system when the microphone gets too close to the loudspeaker. Uncontrolled reinforcement of a vibration, whether electronic or mechanical, can result in damage to more than ears.
It has long been the custom to have marching soldiers fall out of step when crossing a bridge, lest the rhythm of a common cadence destroy the bridge. It is not an imagined threat.
The Millennium Bridge in England was closed after dangerous swaying resulted when people walking on it fell into a common rhythm, each reacting to the movement of the other.
Perhaps you have encountered the ‘waltzing washing machine’ during the spin cycle with an unbalanced load. All from one thing reinforcing another, making it bigger and bigger.
Not all reinforcement is bad, however. All of your electronic gadgets depend upon oscillators that require feedback or reinforcement to operate - radios, TV’s, cell phones, even the microwave that cooks your food. Like fire, the concept of reinforcement is something that we need to understand and use for beneficial purposes.
People known as behavorialists use reinforcement techniques extensively. “Who ‘dat? All of us. If we reward desired behavior, and punish undesired behavior, we are utilizing feedback, making use of the technique of reinforcement. Parenting, teaching, coaching - try to make the good better and reduce the undesirable choices by positive feedback and reinforcement.
The optimist has an outlook that adds good things to any situation. The pessimist can twist everything into a downward spiral. The severely depressed person adds bad to bad, even to personal destruction.
Remember the commercial line, “Bet you can’t eat just one?” One leads to another, which leads to another, which . . . !
Habits are formed by feedback. Want to change something in your life? Reinforce the things that add to positive results. Change the rhythm! Think back to the statement about soldiers dropping their cadence. We develop a ‘cadence’ in our mental attitudes and in our habitual behavior. We can not achieve change in our lives unless we identify the ‘cadence, ‘ and make changes accordingly.
The mind is a powerful thing. We become what we think. Meditation is a thought process, advocated by some, that includes developing a ‘mantra,’ a formula of invocation or incantation to reinforce concentration on a desired outcome.
Consider the beneficial aspects of prayer. Believe it or not, prayer works! Prayer has the added result that God becomes a factor, bringing benefits to both the person praying and to the person prayed for.
April 22, 2007

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Paul wrote: "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." I Corinthians 13:12, NIV

It was one of those "Aha!" moments. I happened to glance up and note my reflection in the window, mirroring my every move as I sat eating my breakfast on a dark, wintery morning. I thought, "What a perfect example of Paul's allegory of "Seeing through a glass darkly" in the 'Love Chapter' of his letter to the Corinthians." (Chapter 13, King James version.)
I knew what lay outside, on the other side of the window, but I could see nothing, because the contrast between my lighted table and the night outside transformed the window glass into a mirror, albeit an imperfect one.
So that's what Paul was talking about! We are unable to see the heavenly kingdom from the light of this life, seeing only an imperfect image of ourselves, because of the contrast of what is, and what is to be.
If I sit long enough, watch and wait long enough, the dawning will come. First, I will start to see a glimmer of red, presaging the advent of the dawn. I will begin to note the outlines of the trees in the woods, ghostly shapes only, backlit by the rising sun.
Soon, the image of the garage will take shape, although just a dark, blank area at first. Soon, I know, my image in the glass will fade, and the scene of God's great kingdom will fill my view in all its radiant splendor.
It was there all along; there was just such a contrast between the two worlds that the larger, more permanent one, was invisible.
By the time I sat down for my noon meal, the once hidden had been made plain. I could readily see the roughness of the bark on the trees, the branches moving slightly in the breeze. Squirrels use it for both a home and a gym, scurrying about, seeking their own lunch. Birds visit the feeders, placed there for the purpose of both providing them with food and us humans with visual enjoyment. Now the mirror effect is reversed; we can watch them, while they can not see us.
There is a vital, everlasting truth here. When we see ourselves only, though as in a glass, darkly, we focus on the image that we do see, not on the image of the world on the other side. Even though we leave the table and the window, in essence, we continue to focus on "our" world, and not God's world.
Sometimes we need reminders of what lies on the "other side." Regular times for meditation, for worship, Bible reading, and contemplation, bring us back for the 'meal' at the 'window,' to reveal God in all of His Glory.
January 7, 2007