Nobody Cares
By Lisa Boyer
“Your word is
truth”
John 17:17b
I
had been obsessing about how I looked. Not that I’m terribly vain, but a
medical condition was affecting my shape and hiding it was becoming more and
more difficult. Then it hit me…nobody cares.
Nobody
cares about how I look and realizing it was such a relief. Any time I started
to worry about how I looked I just repeated “nobody cares” to myself. But before long, I found myself repeating
“nobody cares” about more than just how I looked and not long after that, I
began believing nobody cares. I hadn’t even noticed the transition from “nobody
cares about how I look” to “nobody cares at all.”
I
had been foolish to let such a simple thought imbed itself so deeply in my
mind, but realizing my foolishness wasn’t going to be enough to undo the
damage. I had a habit of thinking “nobody cares” and I needed a different
thought to create a new habit.
As
I considered what I had been thinking and what I should be thinking, part of a
Bible verse came to mind…“think on these things.” It would have been more
helpful if the whole verse had come to mind, but I had to look up the rest. A
quick search of “think on these things” in Google got me to Philippians 4:8
which says “Finally, brothers, whatever is true,
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.”
So that was the list of criteria a thought needed to have before
it should stay in my head. But thinking whatever
is true can be kind of tricky when you’ve been believing a lie like “nobody
cares.” Back to the Bible I went…1 Peter 5:7 says “He cares for you” referring
to God. Ok, well, I was thinking of “nobody” as people, but God’s caring also
disproves the idea that “nobody cares.” If I am to think true things, “nobody
cares” is not allowed in my head.
What a process… all because I was playing some sort of mind game
to make myself feel better about how I looked. Wow. Next time, I’ll try dealing
with the situation in a more practical way.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Are you struggling with a negative thought
habit? Today, will you go to God’s Word to find the truth?
FURTHER READING:
Lisa
is married to Ted and they have two teenage sons. Lisa administers Fresh
Start’s Facebook and blog, serves with the 5th & 6th graders on Sunday morning at Oakwood, and loves hanging out with and impacting
teenage girls for Christ.
