Brain Soup?

Over my lifetime, I have learned that the brain is powerful. It captures everything in our lives and stores it permanently in our minds. 

I envision my mind as this huge pot of soup. Brain soup, if you will. All the ingredients in this soup are memories, feelings, and experiences gained over a lifetime. 

I have learned that anything floating around in this soup can bubble up to the surface into my present thoughts at any given time. Whether good or bad, these can impact our everyday lives. 

Some can get stuck in the tortuous process of reliving traumatic experiences over and over again. Some can grow bitter or hateful because the past hurts keep resurfacing in their minds. Some allow all the bad of the world to be catalogued into their mind, just dropping all kinds of junk into their big pot of brain soup.

Bear in mind, in my lifetime, I have found no evidence that any of these "ingredients" are ever removed out of my "soup." So, as Christians, we have to be vigilant about what we add to this soup. Far as I can tell, once it's plopped down in there, it's there forever. 

All these ingredients can either add to our life, build us up, make us happy, or they can take away from our life, tear us down, torture us. Some we have control over, being what we allow in, while others are put in because of life and circumstances. Some are in our control while some are beyond our control. 

So, as Christians, we need to add as many good things as possible and minimize bad things that are a waste of time or things that can come back to haunt us later. Trust me, they always have a way of bubbling back up to the surface, whether good or bad. 

Jesus told us about this when talking about what we let in through our eyes:

Matthew 6:22-23 NIV

[22]  “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. [23] But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

See? What you look at or focus on can transform your whole life, because it gets added to your "soup." Either good or bad, light or darkness. 

Jesus also said this:

Matthew 12:33-35 NKJV

[33] “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.  [34] Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  [35] A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.  

What you focus on or allow into your "soup" is who you'll become. So let's focus on good things and not the bad things like Paul said in Philippians:

Philippians 4:8 NIV

[8] Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 

Let's add good things to our "soup" everyday, transforming our lives over time. Because once they're added, they're there. 

Love you,

Jeffrey Post