By Audrey Bauman

Philippians 4: 8 - 9   NLT

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Verse 8 is another one of my favourite verses. It was a verse that my Sunday School teacher brought to my attention when I was in my teens. Mrs. Grant was someone we teenage girls really admired. She and her husband owned a jewelry store in Sarnia where I grew up, and I suspect that is one of the reasons we respected her so much. But she was also a quiet, loving person who really took an interest in all of us. And that verse was the one she would quote many, many times to us.

"Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

Stop for a moment and think about your life - all the things you do, all the things you enjoy ... all the things you think about. How do those things match up to the descriptive adjectives in that verse?

It makes me stop and think about the TV programs I watch, the books I read. But most of all, I stop and think about my thoughts. What am I thinking about when I consider the people I know, the situations that show up in my life, what happens at my church ... ?

Are my thoughts true - honorable - right - pure - lovely - admirable - excellent - worthy of praise?

There is another challenge today. It's not my challenge. It's a challenge in the Bible. So ... what do I do about it?

Our song for today is Build My Life by Pat Barrett.