I am continuing to find ways to adapt to the deficits caused by my stroke. The biggest ongoing challenge is excessive sensory input overload. Basically, what that means is my brain gets easily overstimulated, causing it to melt down. In my new normal, in order to not create too much chaos in my brain, I am very intentional about trying center my attention on only one person or one thing at a time, blocking out any other stimuli that my brain also tries to focus upon. As I work on improving my focus and attention, memory, processing, problem-solving by using cognitive strategies, it takes tremendous effort and energy just to complete a single task from beginning to end, easily turning peace and calm into chaos.

Let me ask you – as you go about your day, and quite possibly also as you roll around restless and sleepless during the night, is your mind at peace or is it bouncing from thing to thing? The Bible tells us that even in the midst of busyness and chaos, if we stay attuned to God, we can find calmness and peace. Easy, no. Possible, yes. In Isaiah 26:3 we find this promise, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon you, because he trusts in you.”

Bible translations (ESV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, and others) that tend to be literal in their word-to-word adherence to the original language use the word stayed; not a word we regularly use in modern language. Translations (NIV, NLT, RSV, and others) that strive to convey the meaning of the text rather than its original form, called thought-for-thought, tend to use language more common to today – “whose minds are steadfast” (NIV) or “whose thoughts are fixed upon you” (NLT). The third translation method is paraphrase, of which the most familiar would The Message and The Living Bible.

That word stayed comes from a Hebrew word that literally means “to prop, or to lean, lay, rest, support,” or in other words, settled upon. In my study of the Hebrew word samak (stayed in Isaiah 26:3 above), I find several other usages, here is just two – we will be sustained (Psalm 3:5), we will be upheld (Psalm 71:6). Matthew 22:37 tells us, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” We are also instructed to not set our minds on earthly things, but rather, on things that are above (Colossians 3:2). And if we allow ourselves to be, we can have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).

I also find it interesting that in this context the word for perfect is shalom. The ancient Hebrew concept of peace, rooted in the word shalom, meant wholeness, completeness, soundness, carrying with it a sense of permanence. So, this verse literally says peace, peace.

If we keep our minds stayed upon Yahweh, we are promised perfect peace. Perfect peace is not a life free from turmoil or struggle or conflict. In John 16:33, Jesus tells us that life is full of things to worry about or keep us up at night. So then, just what is this perfect peace we are promised? This peace is not tangible or visible, but rather, it is a gift offered to us by Jesus that soothes our heart, mind, and soul in those times of trouble that He said we would have. As Jesus was saying his earthly goodbye to his disciples, we find these words in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts (and I parenthetically add minds and souls) be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Amid the chaos that is often life as we know it, there can also be peace and calm. Have you ever quietly sat in the shade under a tree and experienced a temporary peace and calm flooding your soul as your mind centered (stayed) itself upon the rustling of the leaves as a gentle breeze blows through the tree? A more lasting peace and calm comes when we keep our minds stayed upon the Lord.

Will you do so right now?

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Earlier this week I wrote about a “painful” lesson learned in my childhood while visiting my grandparents in Iowa. You can read that post here. Today I share another memory from those visits, this one “sweet.”

One of my favorite things to do when visiting my maternal grandparents was help my grandma make apple cider. We would go out into her orchard and fill a wooden basket with apples. After we washed the apples in a sink in the basement, we would head upstairs to the kitchen where a wooden apple press awaited us. Grandma let me help her fill the round hopper with apples. I then watched with wide open eyes as she turned the crank, causing the pressing disk to slowly crush the apples, squeezing the juice into the tub below. Grandma always let me have a few turns of the crank, but it was hard work for a little boy. With a smile and a pat on my behind, she always told me I did a good job.

This went on for what seemed like hours, but time seemed to stand still as I helped Grandma make apple cider. Once all apples had been squeezed, and after we cleaned up the cider press, the best part was yet to come – Grandma poured me a glass of cider as I sat on her lap. To this day, I do not know which I liked better, sitting on her lap, or tasting the cider.

The apples got put under tremendous pressure, pressed and squeezed, turning their once roundness and red color into a pile of pulpy residue, called pomace. But because of the pressure exerted upon the apples, delicious juice was extracted. From a little boy’s point of view, what was left in the hopper sure didn’t look like apples anymore. But this pomace, it did not go to waste. We fed it to the hogs. And in today’s commercial apple juice processing, pomace is the major by-product, a good source of antioxidants and dietary fiber. And for your sweet tooth, apple pomace powder is used in the production of toffee.

How often do you feel like one of those apples? You know, those moments when life is pressing in on you and you wonder if the pressure is more than you can endure. You cry out to God, begging, pleading, maybe even deal-making. You sense hopelessness and despair.

In the fourth chapter of Second Corinthians, the apostle Paul bares his soul regarding his struggles, his pain of being pressed and squeezed, But, amid despair, Paul finds strength in Jesus. In vv. 8-9 we read these hopeful words – “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

Those words are hopeful because in our pain Jesus reveals Himself to us. Those words are hopeful because through our pain Jesus is refining us. Those words are hopeful because out of that pain Jesus can bring sweetness.

These next words are hopeful, because in, and through, and out of, our pain, we are being made more like Jesus – “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way” (James 1:2-4, MSG).

So, no matter how pressed in, pressed on, pressed under you feel, know that God is using your circumstances to make something beautiful, something majestic, something delicious, in you, like the sweet taste of my grandma’s freshly squeezed apple cider.

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I have found that some of the best lessons are learned in the “field” and not in the “laboratory.” Schooling and book knowledge are important to success in life, but it is what we learn by trial and error, by experiment, by doing dumb stuff, by failing, that are some of the best lessons learned. As a young boy I learned one of those lessons the hard way. It is a lesson that I still live by today – never pee on an electric fence. Let me explain.

My maternal grandparents lived on a farm in Iowa. When we would visit them, the city slicker in me always enjoyed the momentary farm life. I would ride with my grandpa on his tractor and help him feed the animals. My grandma and I would make apple cider.

During one particular visit, my two younger brothers and I, along with two of our cousins (all us of boys under the age of ten) were playing near grandpa’s pasture. We were throwing stones into the creek that ran near an electric fence that surrounded the field. Our goal was to cause a splash to hit the electric fence. We loved to hear the noise of water hitting the electrified rail: Zzzzzz.

I, the oldest and supposedly wisest of the group, came up with the fun idea of seeing which of us five boys could pee and hit the fence. Sounded like harmless fun. More Zzzzzz! Let me just say, I was the only boy to succeed in reaching the fence. And it was in that moment that I learned one of life’s valuable lessons – urine is a good conductor of electricity. Right now, those of you who know me are saying, “Oh, that explains a whole lot!”       

While that wisdom is important to know, as is much of the worldly wisdom we accumulate along life’s journey, gaining the wisdom of God is paramount, more important than all other wisdom, even the truth that some liquids are good conductors of electricity. The conduction of electricity inside a liquid takes place due to the movement of ions. Salts produce those ions. So, liquids that contain salt (yes, urine being one of those) are good conductors. Oil and alcohol are two examples of liquids that do not conduct electricity. Does that mean that if I would have consumed several beers before peeing on the fence that I might have had a different result? Just wondering.

Just how do we gain the wisdom of God? Solomon, considered to be the wisest man ever to live (1 Kings 4:29-34), said this about gaining wisdom – “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 10:9). In this context, fear is not “being afraid,” but rather, it is awe and reverence, not wanting to disappoint.

We are also told that God gives wisdom to those who ask – “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

Later on, still in James, we find these words – “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (3:16-17).  

Scripture calls “blessed” (Hebrew – happy) those who seek and gain godly wisdom. Click here to read Proverbs 3, paying particular attention to verses 13-18.

And lastly, the apostle Paul tells us that even the best of the best worldly wisdom is not as valuable as the foolishness of God (1 Corinthians 1:25).

So, today, I ask – are you seeking to gain wisdom? Not just any wisdom, the wisdom of God. 

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