PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

January 2, 2022

FREE YOUR MIND

Many years ago the speaker for a LaPorte County Mental Health Association annual dinner talked about creative imagination.  As a part of his presentation he had us write down on a piece of paper five ways to improve the fork.  When we had all finished he has us write down five more, then five more.  He emphasized they did not need to be good ideas, just anything that came to mind.  Even the most outlandish suggestion might hold the possibility of a good idea.

The point the speaker was making was that most of us settle for the first thing that comes to mind when deciding on a course of action.  Most of the time, our first idea is far from the best.  We need to free our minds to push the limits and explore a variety of possibilities.  Very likely in all of the suggestions that those of us attending the dinner made, there was one that could well be an improvement on the common fork.

I was reminded of the speaker’s exercise by an article by Frank Bures that appeared in the October 2021 “Rotary” magazine.  It was entitled “Free your mind: To be creative, you must be open to making connections – and to doing nothing.  In part Bures says “Creative people … engage in ‘divergent thinking,’ which involves the ability to think of many possible, but not strictly necessary, answers to a problem.” (Rotary, October 2021, p. 26)  This is what the speaker at the Mental Health Association dinner was asking us to do.

I have always been intrigued by how the Lord invites the Hebrew people to free their minds from the ordinary when going up against a foe.  Rather than attack the walls of Jericho head on, the Lord suggests that people, accompanied by seven priests blowing ram’s horns, march around the city once for six days and seven times on the seventh day.  When they did, we all know what happened. (Joshua 6:1-27)  The Lord tells Gideon to defeat the Midianite menace by having 300 men surround the enemy camp at night, blow trumpets and raise torches. (Judges 7:1-25)

One of my favorite scriptures comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans.  It serves a bridge between his theological section and his ethical section.  He writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of god – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)  The speaker at the Mental Health dinner was inviting us to renew our minds by expanding our vision of what might be possible.  He suggested the benefits of thinking outside the box.

The beginning of a new year is a time for making resolutions.  This year you might think about resolving to free your mind to be more creative.  A place to begin is by not settling for the first thing that comes to mind when deciding what needs to be done.  Spend some time and think of other possibilities.  The best one might be the fifth or sixth that comes to mind.  The more possibilities the better!  You might consider picking something you are presently doing and think of other ways of doing it.  If there is some issue that is particularly troubling, you might brain storm possibilities how to address it.

May 2022 be your year to free your mind to be more creative!