How’s your diet going?
Your spiritual diet, that is. You’ve heard “garbage in, garbage out” before; the maxims are true. “You are what you eat” whether it’s what you put in your mouth or the things you put in your head.
This morning I was coping with the garbage clogging my mind after a dip into the daily news. Some of it is downright poison. I hate the way some thoughts won’t go away. From back in my memory, a song came to the rescue:
What is right and true
What is lovely too
What is honest and of good reputation
What are excellent ways
What is worthy of praise
Let your mind meditate on these,
Concentrate on these things!*
T. Grady Spires
I wish I could link to an mp3 for you – or better yet, a video of my philosophy professor in college, singing it as he danced about the room and made us learn it, too. The way he added a jazzy lift to the ends of the lines never failed to bring a smile. He was crazy (good crazy), we thought, but we loved him.
I wonder whether T. Grady Spires knew that his most lasting legacy, for me at least, was not philosophical knowledge as much a song that never fails to clear my head of cobwebs and start me looking for the right and true.
I think he’d be pleased.
—
*Singing is one of the best ways to memorize Scripture! This song isn’t word for word, but it’s close enough to Philippians 4:8 to count.
Sarah,
I love knowing that you appreciate the power of music and the gift that it is to us, especially when it comes to learning scripture !! My children grew up listening to GT and The Halo Express which was a series of stories, that incorporated scripture set to songs. The stories were about common childhood issues, and the dozen or so songs in each story, always offered a Biblical solution to the “problem” while the listeners wound up memorizing the Bible verse! Now my children are adults, but from time to time we can all be heard “singing” a “GT” verse. It was a balm to my spirit when I heard my grandchildren listening to these same stories and singing God’s precious words into their hearts.
I can appreciate your comments about T. Grady Spires, and the impact he has had on so many people. You depict him well … and he has always been the good-crazy. I met him as a young teen and loved the way he has about him – a consistent, genuine ‘joy in the Lord’. I later came to know him as my father-in-law, and can attest that he was the same way at home – full of that same joy, yet full of compassion for the brokenness in the world around him. My command of philosophy could be measured in a thimble, but I have a heart full of Grady songs, and sayings.