Last week, I started jotting down ideas for 2018 in my green-colored pen. Within a short time, twelve ideas, large and small, appeared. From those, new pages were needed to fill out some of the more appealing or practical ideas. (One of them is to finish some outstanding projects.)
Amazingly, some of those ideas, after being written down, began to seep their way into my routine and actions were taken to make them happen. They’re just ideas for now, mind you. Still, the thought and the writing influenced the mind, and the mind began working toward putting them into action.
It wasn’t that the mind saw the color green as a go sign. That small action of creating a picture of the future and of writing it down made the difference.
James Clear cites a study that showed that “Simply by writing down a plan that said exactly when and where they intended to exercise, the participants in Group 3 were much more likely to actually follow through.” More than twice as likely.
My little exercise demonstrates that the mind is a powerful tool. It works with the thoughts that we feed into it. It appreciates specific plans and positive thoughts.
The Bible has tons to say about the mind and the thought processes. And it has no little subject matter about writing. God writes and causes to be written. It is no coincidence that his covenants with man are written down.
From the physical act of writing, God himself does some spiritual writing. From the sacred writings that provide the actionable wisdom to be saved, God works to establish his covenant and does a serious printing job in a person’s heart. So that the Hebrews writer quotes Jeremiah to say about Christians,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,” Heb 10.16.
Here is truly powerful writing. The writing that instantly changes reality. That causes new birth, transformation, change of spiritual status from death to life, mental reformulation, the turning of self into service.
We’ll continue to make plans and write down goals and ideas that will provide us with a framework for our months and years. And we’ll praise God who works in the heart’s deepest recesses, powers our days, and lights the path before us.
