Episode 164

TODAY’S READING:

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Mark 6:22-23

Good Morning and Happy Thursday!! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week. Today’s verse really gets me thinking of the power of what we see and what we surround ourselves with.

The eye is the lamp of the body. It’s a really good analogy when you think about it. Light guides you; when a room is too dark and you can’t see, you immediately go for the flashlight on your cell phone. You need light in order to help you walk around furniture so that naturally you don’t hurt yourself.

In the same way, what we are surrounded with will guide us in this life. If you are surrounded by and always watching people argue, chances are you argue a lot. Same for complainers. People with negative attitudes. There is power in choosing to remove yourself from situations.

If you want to be a prosperous person, you need to surround yourself with other prosperous people—the same principle when it comes to being healthy.

Now, the same principle can be applied to not only what we surround ourselves with but also to what we take the time to watch. Maybe you spend way too much time watching TV. Maybe all of the movies you watch are violent. Or maybe you spend way too much time aimlessly scrolling on social media.

These actions aren’t stimulating our imagination. They don’t give us time to get alone with God. They do the opposite. If we continue to poison our souls with the things we see, it’s going to be harder and harder for us to get to a place of pure love and pure faith. Instead of watching the news and scrolling for hours on end, crack open the Bible and see what It has to say.

Choose to read encouraging texts, chose to watch encouraging movies. I chose to take notice of the beauty of nature. Go outside. Surround yourself with loving people. Guard your eyes. Protect your eyes. Healthy eyes will leave you with a body full of light.

PRAYER

Jesus, thank you for this day. Thank you for giving us resources and outlets to surround ourselves with. Remind us to bask in nature, remind us to remove ourselves from negative and toxic people. Help us guard our eyes; we want bodies full of light. Nudge us when we are indulging in toxic behaviors so that we know to move away from them. Give us the power to put locks on the TVs and our phones. Help us find time to get along with you. We want to take a moment and pray over our circle of influence. We thank you for placing the right people in our life. If they aren’t already in our life, we ask that you bring us to them. It is in your holy name that we pray, AMEN!