Take a minute to jot down on a piece of paper all the things that come to you when you stop to think about what you think about. . .

As you look at your list, how many of these items have you prayed about or taken to God? How many of these thoughts are worth thinking about altogether? What strategies do you use to center your thoughts?

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "You are what you think all day long!"

If you are anything like me, at times it's a huge challenge to find framework and to be centered in the many thoughts that circulate inside my head.

In his book Soundtracks Jon Acuff helps provide a strategy and challenge for thoughts that might be circulating in your head about yourself and/or others. His strategy is to ask yourself three things when you are being challenged by a thought: 1) Is it true? 2) Is it helpful? 3) Is it kind? His advice is if it isn’t true, helpful, or kind, STOP thinking about such things.

The apostle Paul also helps to provide a framework for us to help center our thoughts and put them in perspective in Philippians 4:8 (NIV). "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."

When you look at your list, how many of the items that you jotted down fit into this framework?

The rest of this week, and hopefully well into the future, challenge the loudest thoughts in your head, as you think about what you think about. Ask yourself are these thoughts true, are they helpful, and are they kind? If not, try to re-route these thoughts to those that are centered in and around what Paul's challenge to the Philippians asks us to do. With God’s help work to center your thoughts around what is true, what is noble, what is right, what is pure, what is lovely, what is admirable, what is excellent, what is praiseworthy. . .and try to think more about such things!