stayed on Jesus

I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus.

I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus.

I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus.

Hallelu, hallelu, halleluiah!

It's wonderful to have a mind that can focus, especially for someone who probably should have been diagnosed as ADD or ADHD.  All my life, I've had to remind myself to "focus, focus."

Isaiah 26:3 advises, You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because He trusts in You.  And so, ever since Jesus came into my heart, will, and mind some 50+ years ago, I've sought to keep my mind stayed on Him, to keep putting my trust in Him: "focus, focus."

But the other day, I caught a glimpse of another way to look at what's really behind developing a focused, stayed mind.  I was at the Y, sitting alone in the blessed steam room, my reward for being tortured by my workout coach and chilled by my laps in the pool.  My mind began to wander from this to that in its ceaseless flow.  But then I noticed: as I went from thought to thought, about every fifth thought or so, I was stayed on Jesus.  After several cycles, I began to laugh as I thought that, even my wandering mind will eventually bump into Jesus.  This, not so much because I'm the one who's focused or stayed, but because His Mind is stayed on mine, keeping me close to Himself, focused on helping me wander back to Him.

This doesn't mean that I don't need to focus on Jesus, to concentrate on His Presence and His Word.  But what it does mean is that it's not all up to me.  Like a stay that stabilizes a flapping sail, Jesus stays my wandering thoughts, inserting Himself into them, so that I can return to Him.  I can trust Him to do this so that my mind, thus governed by The Spirit, is life and peace (Romans 8:6).  Thanks be to God.