What Are You Feeding

I have arrived at a point in my life where I believe those little hunches, the whisperings in my head, and those powerful AHA moments are the Holy Spirit speaking to me. If that's more than my readers can swallow, then feel free to think of the following as one of the previous rather than the latter.

My attention has been almost forcibly drawn lately to the controversy surrounding the book series and movie entitled The Golden Compass. It seems lots of people who claim the title Christian are up in arms and protesting this movie because of its atheistic roots and uncomfortable ending. There have been emails by the droves being forwarded about how horrible this movie is and how I shouldn't let my kids watch it. I haven't seen the movie nor read the books, so I have no idea what it is about other than from the feedback of those forwards.

I have, however, during the course of my life watched and even participated to some extent in repeated boycottings and protests of things that conflict with many Christian principals. I remember the big deal when Dynasty first hit the airwaves. We all boycotted Proctor and Gamble which inflicted significant pain on me (no Jello for a 10 year old) but little on P&G.

From what I can tell, all that boycotting and protesting was less than successful at achieving the ultimate goal. The trash on TV is worse than ever 20 years later (can you say Desperate Housewives?) Oh, yes, there are always some small victories in the favor of Christians, yet I believe we do more harm than good when we draw attention to and unwittingly promote that which we seek to destroy. We put all of our thought energy and our physical effort toward seeking to attack and banish something we don't like.

Here's is a basic science lesson. Sounds a bit like that New Age stuff, but it is basic science. When we think a thought, there are chemical reactions that occur in our bodies. There are electrons that fire and do their thing in our cells, and electric signals are sent throughout our bodies that affect several organs and systems in our bodies. That electrical energy never stays totally contained in our bodies. It radiates out from us. Science has measured the electromagnetic field of the heart 16 feet from the body, and it only stopped their because that's as far as the test equipment was capable of measuring. If prayer is as powerful as Christians claim it is, then that same power of thought and spoken word would apply to most any thought or expression pursued earnestly.

If thoughts have energy, why in the world would someone want to "feed" energy into that which they dislike or disagree with? If God is the supreme power in all the universe, then he is quite capable of handling those things which do not fit his desires for humanity if he so chooses.

I tend to think of God as a polite, loving father rather than a demanding, bossy, controlling one. He waits for his children to ask of him before intruding into their affairs. If in fact he is the supreme power of the universe, and if in fact our thoughts, words, and actions have powerful attracting energy in them, wouldn't it make more sense to spend our time and energy praising God and reminding him of his power and feeding his power (not that he needs it, but even God likes to be told that we love and adore him)?That would in turn send out positive energy which attracts good things into our lives rather than nurture anger and bitterness and hatred toward what we don't want. Doing so serves to further promote and publicize that which we dislike while attracting negative energy back to our own lives?

Remember the saying, "Whatsoever a man thinketh, so is he." If we spend our time and energy thinking and acting on that which we do not want, we will get it. If we spend our time and energy thinking and acting on that which we do want, it likewise will be ours. Dwell on what you do want, not what you don't want.