Your Best Thought for the New Year and Forever

 "Thou my best thought, by day or by night."

Mary E. Byrne

I've posted these words before because I believe they guide you to the very best thought you can have.

What do you think about? What keeps your mind occupied? There is a world of possibilities. Thousands if not millions of thoughts go through our minds. Anything and everything. But I like the words in this line from the hymn “Be Thou My Vision:” "Thou my best thought, by day or by night." 

The hymn was translated from an ancient Irish poem by Mary E. Byrne, 1880-1931. Eleanor H. Hull, 1860-1935, took Byrne's translation and crafted it into verses with rhyme and meter. It is said to be inspired from St. Patrick, missionary to Ireland, whom we celebrate with a holiday each March.

God IS our best thought, the very best thought our mind can have. God’s love comes through to fill us and help us in our daily walk.

Colossians 3:1-2: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Enduringword.com: The best Christian living comes from minds that are fixed on heaven. They realize that their lives are now hidden with Christ in God, and since Jesus is enthroned in heaven, their thoughts and hearts are connected to heaven also . . . The words “set your mind” marks aspiration, desire, and passion . . . In order to seek these things, the mind must be set on them.

 Is God my best thought? Do I spend time with Him, rejoicing in His love and worshiping Him for His grace and mercy? Does He enter my mind during the day?

What about at night when I'm trying to fall asleep? Do I fulfill David’s Words in Psalm 63:6: “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.”

Biblehub.com, Barnes’ Notes on the Bible provides these words: Nothing can be more proper than that our last thoughts, as we sink into quiet slumber, should be of God; of his being, his character, his mercy, his loving-kindness; of the dealings of his providence, and the manifestations of his grace toward us, during the day; and nothing is better suited to compose the mind to rest, and to induce quiet and gentle slumber, than the calmness of soul which arises from the idea of an Infinite God, and from confidence in him.

There is no question. You can’t think about anything as great as our God and Savior, Jesus. The more we think about Him, the closer we become to Him. Make Him your best thought always!

By His Grace . . .