Troublesome Thoughts
By Betsy Childs

I frequently get exasperated by the proliferation of "pop-up ads" that greet me as I navigate through the World Wide Web. Even worse than the pop-up ads is the backlog of pop-under ads that I typically don't discover until I've signed off. I must say, however, that my skill in closing pop-up ads is sharpening. I have developed a reflex that sends my cursor in the direction of the ad with the goal to shut it down before all the graphics have even appeared. I never enjoyed playing video games, but beating the pop-up ads calls for the same heightened interplay between visual and motor skills.

A similar sort of progression frequently happens in the human mind. The undisciplined mind has very little control over unwelcome thoughts that pop up without a moment's notice. The longer we allow troublesome thoughts to linger in our minds, the more they will entice us and prevent us from following the truth. Whether the thoughts are doubts, temptations, or anxieties, they lead us off the path and wind around in exhausting circles with no destination.

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