1 Kings 4:29-34; Proverbs 2:1-10; 4:5-7; Isaiah 26:3; Romans 8:5-11;

12:2

Your mind is a muscle. It needs to be stretched to stay sharp. It

needs

to be prodded and pushed to perform. Let it get idle and lazy on you,

and that muscle will become a pitiful mass of flab in an incredibly

brief period of time.

How can you stretch your mind? What are some good mental exercises

that

will keep the cobwebs away? I offer three suggestions:

READ. You may be too crippled and too poor to travel---but between the

covers of a book are ideas and insights that await the joy of

discovery. William Tyndale was up in years when he was imprisoned.

Shortly before his martyrdom he wrote to the governor asking for:

A warmer cap, a candle, a piece of cloth to patch my leggings. . . .

But above all, I beseech and entreat your clemency to . . . permit me

to have my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar and Hebrew Dictionary, that I

may spend time . . . in study.¹

The powers of your perception will be magnified through reading. Read

wisely. Read widely. Read slowly. Scan. Read history as well as

current

events . . . magazines and periodicals as well as classics and poetry

.

. . biographies and novels as well as the daily news and devotionals.

Don't have much time? Neither did John Wesley. But his passion for

reading was so severe he made it a part of his schedule---he read

mostly on horseback. He rode between fifty and ninety miles a day with

the book propped up in his saddle . . . and got through thousands of

volumes during his lifetime. Knowing that reading attacks thickness of

thought, Wesley told many a younger minister either to read---or get

out of the ministry.

TALK. Conversation adds the oil needed to keep our mental machinery

running smoothly. The give-and-take involved in rap sessions, the

question-answer dialogue connected to discussion, provides the

grinding

wheel needed to keep us keen.

Far too much of our talk is surface jargon . . . shallow, predictable,

obvious, pointless. Talk is too valuable to waste. Leave the

discussion

of people and weather to the newscasters! Delve into issues, ideas,

controversial subjects, things that really matter. Ask and answer

"why"

and "how" . . . rather than "what" and "when." Probe. Question.

Socrates was considered wise---not because he knew all the answers,

but

because he knew how to ask the right questions. Few experiences are

more stimulating than eyeball-to-eyeball, soul-to-soul talks that

force

us to think and reason through specifics. For the sheer excitement of

learning, talk!

WRITE. Thoughts disentangle themselves over the lips . . . and through

the fingertips. How true! The old gray matter increases its creases

when you put it down on paper. Start a journal. A journal isn't a

diary. It's more. A journal doesn't record what you do---it records

what you think. It spells out your ideas, your feelings, your

struggles, your discoveries, your dreams. In short, it helps you

articulate who you are.

Who knows? Your memoirs might make the bestseller list in the future.

And speaking of that, why not try writing an article for your favorite

magazine? Editors are on a constant safari for rare species like you.

1. William Tyndale, as quoted in J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual

Leadership (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 101.

Excerpted from Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Copyright ©

1983 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used

by arrangement with Zondervan Publishing House.

by Charles R. Swindoll

WWW.INSIGHT.ORG