I teach piano to about 20 students of various levels of ability, from my little beginners to some fairly advanced students. Inevitably though, at the end of my teaching day it is not the beautiful classical pieces playing themselves over in my head, but the very first plunked out melodies of “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” and “Row, Row, Row, Your Boat.”
Ear worms. Such a gross term for those musical phrases that want to play in a loop in our minds. I have no idea why they stick in our heads the way they do, but aside from being mildly irritating I suppose they don’t do any real harm. There are some phrases that play through our heads that can cause us harm though. Thoughts like, “I’m not good enough,” or “Why can’t I have it all together like so-and-so does?” These kind of thoughts used to absolutely paralyze me. For many years they held me back from doing a lot of things because I believed them to be true.
The only way to stop these thoughts from playing over and over in our minds is to confront them with the truth. We have to acknowledge that they are actually lies. True, we can never be “good” enough, but that is why Jesus came, to redeem us into His image. Another way to get rid of these beasties is to learn to replace the lies with the truth of who we are: we have been made in the image of God! Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Even after we have banished these harmful thoughts we have to be on guard that they don’t sneak back into our minds, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You,” Isaiah 26:3.
It took some work for me to learn how to “catch” those nasty little ear worms, and replace them with truth, but it has been so worthwhile. I still have to be on my guard that they don’t creep back into my thoughts, but just like my piano students know, practice makes perfect! This new way of thinking has provided freedom in my life to pursue things I never thought possible. Will you join me? Will you believe the truth about yourself and what God has planned for your life? I can’t wait to see what you do with your new freedom and truth!
“Finally, brothers, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
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