Switch

Imagine, for a moment, a junction in railroad tracks. Think about the mechanisms that are there to make it work the way it is designed to work, to change the direction of the train. If we take this concept and apply it to the way that we think, then you'll eventually come to the idea of your train of thought. This is a concept that I think we've all heard about at some point which describes the many directions and routes we take with our minds. The thing we often forget is that to change directions a train often needs a switch in direction, and to do that the train needs to slow down considerably to perform the switch safely. Let's say about 5% speed of its max potential. In today's society speediness of thought is often far more celebrated than conciseness of decision. Yet that inherently dishonors the picture of the train of thought, and as such, I believe it has debilitated our ability to appreciate the inherent nuances of the train itself. 

But that's not what I'm addressing here. I'd like to discuss the concept of the track, and who holds the keys to the mechanisms that perform the switch of the rail. My conclusion is that God created the tracks and the switches, and then He gave you authority over the direction of the train via allowing you to control the switches and directional adaptations that you can make. How is this played out when you feel like the chaos of your mind is impossible to control? Andrew, how could you say that the mind is a one-directional entity and claim that you only go one direction at any given time?

If you feel like your mind is out of control, stop believing that lie and move on. Ask for a switch in direction, and pray for the grace to figure out how to do that. That's all I have to say about the first question, if you don't believe your mind is able to be controlled, you've never taken responsibility for it. To answer the second question would probably be a little more complicated, the mind is a one-direction at a time entity, there are an infinite amount of possibilities that you can go with it, and as such you'll want to invest in knowing which directions you care about most, and more than that what direction(s) you were designed to go. But this answer isn't just about topics of interest or things you take pleasure in, it is also about the principle of 'mindset' and the patterns of thought you have engrossed yourself with. There are tracks that we've been on for so long that maybe we don't see the switches, or know how to get out of the deep dense forest we've been stuck in with no way of getting out. To that, I say ask for a new track, or start building one of your own in the direction the Holy Spirit leads you. If you are a track builder who am I to say "no don't do that, that's God's job." 

I have an interest in a multitude of topics, and although I can perform many switches of interest over time that is a poorly spent effort as it takes much more fuel and resources to continue to grow in many directions at once. If you have a train that is designed to do that, then, by all means, switch as many times as you like, but if you have a train that is designed to be a marathon runner allow yourself to pick up speed and coast for a while before you attempt to switch. If you don't know how you've been designed initiate that conversation with God and continue to grow in that or you'll forever regret it. We all need to make switches at some point though, and to not do so would never allow us to look at our train from a different perspective. It's like a change of light, if you're going through a tunnel and the only direction you know is through a tunnel, you eventually become very intimate with the dense rock and the deep guttural echoes as your wheels thud against the tracks. But if you've seen your train in the snow, in the sand, in mountains, and over the sea you know parts of your train you would've never seen before. If you don't have an intimacy with your train you'll never know what else you can withstand, what direction you are meant to go, what problems you can easily solve, and which problems you'll have to spend a little time with. So go and capture your train, subdue it to your dominion, and walk in the authority that God gave you over your track.