What an amazing passage of scripture!  I think it’s important to point out that Paul, as he wrote these words, was likely sentenced to house arrest in Rome.  Or he might have been in prison in Ephesus.  We’re not entirely sure what his situation was, but we know he wasn’t a free man.  He was under physical restriction as part of a judicial process.  Not anyone’s first choice!  Yet, in this letter Paul commands us to rejoice always in the Lord, he admonishes us to focus our minds on the best and beautiful and the true, and he boasts he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him!  Paul was not one to wallow in self-pity, that’s for sure!  We’ve read several of his letters now, and although Paul indicates at times that he is discouraged and frustrated, mostly what we see in his writing is resilience.  Paul was a master of turning adversity into an opportunity for growth.

Which is a skill all of us have been working on for the last three years. And probably even longer than that!  Life has no shortage of challenges, that’s for sure.  Adversity triggers powerful thoughts in our heads, and these thoughts have consequences.  Positive thoughts lead to increased strength for meeting our challenges.  Negative thoughts lead to decreased strength.  When Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” he was giving first-hand testimony to the power that lies in our ability to stay focused.  That’s why he wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!” He wasn’t encouraging us to be in denial about our problems.  He was encouraging us to bring to mind the power that raised Christ from the dead.  This same power is at work to help raise us, too.  That’s faithful focus.

When I’ve had a rough day, I’ve often found myself singing an old camp song, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!”  Praising God is a very powerful antidote to whatever is causing us distress!  Researchers have shown that singing hymns activates the vagus nerve, which is a very long nerve in our body that connects our brains to our hearts, digestive system, and more.  When we rejoice–when we praise God–we actually trigger responses in our body through this vagus nerve that calm our heart rate, ease our digestion, and reduce pain.  Isn’t that amazing!

This whole passage is a primer on how to feel better.  This week I found myself especially drawn to verse 8, where Paul says, “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.”  I love this verse, because it is so easy to focus our thoughts on things that aren’t noble, aren’t life-giving, aren’t helpful.  “Not good” thinking tends to lead to not good feeling!  If you could do an audit of your thoughts, what percentage of them do you think are positive?  Probably a pretty high percentage.  But the negative thoughts seem to have disproportionate power over us.  They are de-energizing, hurtful, and sticky!  They can be really hard to overcome.

Recently I heard about the “15 Seconds of Praise Rule”.  Experiments in psychology have found that it takes on average fifteen seconds of continuous praise for it to be heard. In contrast, criticism is absorbed immediately!  Our brains are wired to hone in on the negative.  We have antennae for the negative and pick up these messages without any trouble.  But for the positive, it’s as if there’s a lot of static, and it’s hard to get our radios adjusted to hear compliments clearly.  So if you have a positive message you want to communicate with someone, don’t just offer a few words and then stop.  They probably haven’t tuned in yet!  Keep talking for at least fifteen seconds.  Make your description of your admiration and affirmation detailed and long enough to really be heard!

Maybe this is why Paul didn’t just say, “Whatever is good, think about that.”  Because we probably would have just glossed right over that one sentence!  By elaborating and being more specific, Paul gives the listener—remember, he wrote these letters to be read aloud not read silently like we usually do—time to pay attention and absorb his instructions.  It forces us to ask ourselves, “What was Paul really trying to say?” Keeping a faithful focus must have been really important to him, given how much he dwelled on this idea. “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.”  I think it took 15 seconds just to read that verse!

What I hear Paul saying is, slow down.  Pay attention to what you think about.  Notice where your mind naturally goes—and pay attention to where we direct our minds to go.  Do we steer our thoughts toward the farm pond, with the yuck and the muck about other people, the world, and/or yourself?  Or do we settle our thoughts down in the green pastures and beside still waters?  Paul wants us to pay attention to what we think about, because our thoughts have the power to energize us to persevere in following God’s call on our lives—or de-energize us and pull us away from God’s call.

This summer I picked up a book called, “Flourish” by Dr. Martin Seligman.  Seligman teaches at Penn and is considered to be one of the world’s experts on resilience.  He says people think way too much about what goes wrong in their lives, and not nearly enough about what goes right in.  There are times when we need to delve into what’s not working so we can make changes, of course.  But research shows most people tend to spend more time thinking about the negative than is helpful, and our mental habits are negatively impacting our mental health and well-being.

So we need to learn to focus our thoughts on the good, the beautiful, the noble, the lovely.  One way to do this is through a little technique called, “Three Good Things”.  Every night before bed, my husband and I make a list of three good things that happened that day, what our role was in the good thing, and how we feel about it.  I use a little spiralbound notebook.  Sometimes I have something really big to record.  But usually, my three good things are pretty simple.  I had a nice phone conversation with a friend from college I haven’t seen in a long time.  I got Wawa coffee with my favorite flavored creamer, which they didn’t have last time I was there.  I survived the day!  Whatever it is!  Write down three good things, what your role was, and how you felt about it.  Take time every night to remind yourself of 1) your blessings from God, 2) your agency—by this I mean your power to make good things happen, 3) and your good feelings.  In my experience, reviewing what went well gives us not only better things to think about as we fall asleep each night, it also gives us energy to be more focused and productive the next day.

Phil uses a gratitude journal that allows you to see five years of good things.  So every night when he writes his good things, he can look back at last year and the year before and be reminded of blessings from the past as well as from today.  That works for him because his handwriting is very small!  I need more space to spread out!

Surprisingly, Phil and I learned about this technique several years ago at a financial wellness seminar.  We went to Myrtle Beach, SC for three days of workshops sponsored by WesPath, the United Methodist board of pensions.  The main reason we went was to make sure we are on track financially to retire.  We love our jobs, but we don’t want to have to work forever!  In addition to the pension and investment stuff, WesPath also arranged for workshops on physical and mental well-being.  We learned about the Three Good Things exercise there, and have been doing it every night since.  We have found it an easy way to help get our minds off the “what went wrong” track, and onto the “what’s going good” track.  It’s a simple start to focusing on the lovely, the noble, the admirable.

It’s not always easy to keep our thoughts where we want them to be.  Most of us spend more time than is good for us thinking about the negative.  That’s why the Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm recommends doing twenty push-ups every morning.  After you brush your teeth, he says, stand in front of your mirror, take a few deep breaths to get yourself ready, and then raise your hands to the level of your face.  Place your index fingers on the corners of your mouth.  Then looking in the mirror, push up.  That’s one!  Let your mouth return to its miserable looking position for a few seconds, and then push up again.  That’s two! After twenty reps, you will not only give yourself a good laugh, but your mouth muscles will get so warmed up, you will laugh easier and smile longer all day long!

I don’t know if Paul had facial push-ups in mind, but he certainly was advocating for discipline when it comes to taking care of our thought life.  He says there is a peace available to us, that comes from prayer, and gratitude, and remembering that God is always with us.  Faithful focus practices make it possible to endure even the most difficult situations without undue anxiety, irritability, or despair.  That is Paul’s testimony to us.

It reminds me of an African American spiritual called, “Woke Up This Morning.”  Oh I woke up this morning with my mind, and it was stayed, stayed on Jesus.  Woke up this morning with my mind, and it was stayed, stayed on Jesus.  I woke up this morning with my mind, and it was stayed, stayed on Jesus.  Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu.

There are a variety of verses to the song, but I like this one:  Walkin’ and talkin’ with my mind, and it was stayed, stayed on Jesus.  It’s a song about acknowledging, all day long, that God is with us.  It’s an encouragement to think about what is true, noble, lovely, pure, right.  It’s a way to remind ourselves that we are not alone in our troubles.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is with us, too.  We can do everything through him who gives us strength.

The key to tapping into this strength is faithful focus.  It’s a mindset that includes rejoicing and praise, prayer and thanksgiving, choosing to think about the good, and savoring every blessing that comes from above.  Faithful focus connects us to the divine power we need to live faithful lives.  Faithful focus allows us to rise above our struggles, transcend our human understanding, and live with our hearts and minds stayed on Christ.

To a happier, more peaceful, more abundant, more joyful life—or to someplace else:  where will your focus take you?  Amen.