Sinking Deep

The word Ponder has the same root as the word pound and originally meant to weigh. To ponder something is to give it weight, to let it sink in. The Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts. We have to allow them to sink into our mind below our logic and reasoning. Through learning and experience we have each constructed a mental model for the world. This model is useful in many respects, but it is flawed and imperfect, because it was constructed by flawed and imperfect people. But if we can allow the Lord’s words to sink below both our logic and our logical fallacies, then we can allow them to enter our heart. But they can’t stop there. They have to sink even lower. They have to sink past the bubbling, shifting of our moods. Past cranky and hungry and bored and anxious. They’ve got to sink deeper than our deep-seated trauma too. They’ve got to sink deep, deep, all the way into our very soul. Our minds and our hearts are bound by mortal limitations but our spirits are eternal, made of the same stuff as God. God’s thoughts are not the thoughts of the mortal mind or heart, but they are the thoughts of our immortal souls. If we ponder God’s words, if we give them enough weight to sink past our mind and heart, then we can understand God with our whole soul.