Invest in Mental Wealth in 2017

ada@adabrownell.com                                                                                                           586 Words

                          

By Ada Brownell

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29).

You came into this life “empty-headed.”

When we were kids, my brother used to tell me he could look into one of my ears and see out the other. Then I had an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of my brain so I could do a firsthand story on the latest technology.

I started the newspaper article with “My brother was wrong. There is something in there.”

New brains have no information downloaded by humankind, but fantastic stored data governs neurological systems, senses, and instincts even in the womb. What God “programmed” into our brains commanded arms, legs, fingers, toes, and so forth to move even before birth. Instincts God installed in our DNA prompted us to suck, swallow, cry, hunger, and caused other parts of the body to function. Even before birth a baby can hear and recognize Mama’s voice.

Babies cry for love, care, and being cuddled, and they won’t thrive without these things.
They learn to coordinate movements and reach for things. Nevertheless, they need outside stimuli to use the potential from the brain. Children who are given no attention often don’t learn to sit, walk, or talk.

We learned our language skills by imitating. If the parents speak Chinese, the child will learn Chinese. Children communicate in whatever language is spoken in the home.

They imitate what they see and hear. Adults copy other people in some degree, too. We imitate experts on everything from sports to the way we dress, to cooking, to playing or singing music, and sometimes even how we decide what to believe.

Your head is not empty now. You learned by experience and from other people. That’s the only way we assimilate knowledge.

After we learn something, we usually can recall it spontaneously. We ride a bike without thinking about how we balance. We type, text, cook, clean, repair cars, and program computers. We balance checkbooks, do income tax, use math to buy and sell, and make chemical formulas to create medicines that save people’s lives or to invent guns, bombs, and rockets to kill them. You can store billions of information blocks in your memory.

Everything you put into your mind changes you. I am choosy about what goes into my brain. I am careful about what I read, what I watch on television, and what I do with my time. I pray for God’s wisdom and knowledge and actively reject smut, vulgar language, gossip, backbiting, and try to steer away from wrong attitudes.

We can put great downloads in our heads: God’s Word, good music, good information, a willingness to learn, work, love, help, and to make heaven our home.

If we use knowledge of good things, our character and integrity grow. Our will becomes stronger. It’s like seeing a growing baby every day. He looks the same if we see him often, but if we wait six months or a year, we see a big difference! You and others will see a change in you when you put positive things you learn into action.

When we make good decisions, our potential for doing great things increases.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I give you my mind and my will. Pour your Spirit and your power into my life, and plant your Word into my heart. May it bear fruit in me.  Amen.

Copyright 2017 Ada Brownell