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Moments for Mom

April 2002

So my 5-year-old daughter says to me in the van, ‘Mom, are you thinking what I’m thinking?’  Don’t you just love when your kids repeat grown-up phrases?  Especially when you’re pretty sure they don’t know what they’re actually saying.  So I had to smile.  And reply.  And I said, ‘I seriously doubt it, but what are you thinking, honey?’  She then said, ‘Nothing!’ and burst into giggles.

Actually, unfortunately, she was pretty close.  I had just about nothing on my mind.  If I did, it was definitely nothing worth recounting here.  I think I was in one of those random thought patterns where your mind floats around topics like ‘I need to change the sheets’ to ‘what am I going to wear for Easter?’ to ‘I need to pray for Sue’ then back to something banal again like ‘I would kill for some chocolate’.  Please tell me I’m not the only one who seems to have little control over my inner world sometimes.  Please tell me those thoughts parallel your thoughts…at least sometimes.

But how I wish I could have longer stretches where my mind is not unoccupied…or when it is not occupied with meaningless trivialities.  Reminded me of II Corinthians 10:5b: …and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  I really believe that God cares about how I spend every minute of my time, and that includes my mind-wandering moments. 

Though, it may be built into us as humans to wander from time to time – and maybe that’s a good stress-reducing habit – I know I sure can use a little thought captivity now and then…where I actually stop myself in mid-thought and redirect its path to something of higher value…something that is true or noble or right or pure or lovely or admirable or excellent or praiseworthy…something that will allow me to tell Sara next time that I actually am not thinking the same nothing that she’s thinking…for once.

Ó Elisabeth K. Corcoran, 2002

Elisabeth K. Corcoran is the author of Calm in My Chaos: Encouragement for a Mom’s Weary Soul (2001), which can be purchased directly through her publisher, Kregel Publications at #1-888-644-0500, online at amazon.com or through your local Christian bookstore. This column is original and not excerpted from her book.