A Wandering Mind

“KEEP YOUR foot [give your mind to what you are doing] when you go [as Jacob to sacred Bethel] to the house of God. ”

Ecclesiastes 5:1a AMP

Have you ever been reading a book and realize that although you read the words with your eyes, you have no idea what you just read because your mind was elsewhere? Happens to me all the time, especially when I sit down to read the Bible, pray, and worship God. It seems that the second I open the Bible my mind starts thinking about the plan of my day, or how to fix my bike, or what I need when I go to Walmart. The Israelites had the same problem as we do, wandering minds, and really, your mind is going to wander, but you can get it to stop wandering. Whenever I catch myself (and that's the key, to recognize when your mind is wandering), I repeat the first part of Ecclesiastes 5:1...keep your foot. I willl repeat "keep your foot Kent, keep your foot." This will draw my mind back and get it refocused again. Now sometimes it will start wandering again, but I just say the words "keep your foot" and that brings it back to the task at hand. I also have found that when my mind does wander while reading the Bible, it is during those times that there is something God wants me to read and I need to go back and read that part again. Really this goes for anything that you are doing, not just reading the Word. It could be something at work, or driving down the road, whatever. God knew we would have wandering minds but fortunately He gave us the Word to bring our minds back.

Take Away: when you catch your mind wandering, repeat the words from Ecclesiastes..."keep your foot" and then go back over what you don't remember because of a wandering mind.