Mental Goalie
My wonderful friend, Tamara, introduced me to the phrase "mental goalie". Everyone has a mental goalie - it is what stops you from saying things you shouldn't say.
You know those times when you catch yourself right before you say something that you shouldn't say? Well your mental goalie just made a great catch. Then there are those times when you say something and immediately realize that you should have just kept your mouth shut. Your mental goalie let the ball through. Then there are other times when your mental goalie makes a catch, and you tackle that goalie and walk the ball through on your own. I do that all the time.
The other day I told a friend that his hair looked like the sticky side of velcro. I knew that wasn't a nice thing to say and even though his hair looked really nice, I tackled my goalie and vocalized the comparison. Stupid play on my part.
Everyone's mental goalie is in constant need of training. Mine especially. There are times when I have kept silent when I should have spoken up and times when I should have kept quiet and instead I offended someone by opening my mouth.
This struggle is not a new one. James wrote about the tongue and how with it we bless God and curse men. Ouch. God is in the process of showing me the effects my words are having and to be honest, it's downright embarrassing and yet, I keep saying those hurtful words. AHHHH!
It is good to know that my sin does not surprise God - I mean He put this struggle in the Bible thousands of years before I existed - and that He desires to train my mental goalie to listen to His calls and not mine.
Have I ever mentioned that we have an awesome God?
You know those times when you catch yourself right before you say something that you shouldn't say? Well your mental goalie just made a great catch. Then there are those times when you say something and immediately realize that you should have just kept your mouth shut. Your mental goalie let the ball through. Then there are other times when your mental goalie makes a catch, and you tackle that goalie and walk the ball through on your own. I do that all the time.
The other day I told a friend that his hair looked like the sticky side of velcro. I knew that wasn't a nice thing to say and even though his hair looked really nice, I tackled my goalie and vocalized the comparison. Stupid play on my part.
Everyone's mental goalie is in constant need of training. Mine especially. There are times when I have kept silent when I should have spoken up and times when I should have kept quiet and instead I offended someone by opening my mouth.
This struggle is not a new one. James wrote about the tongue and how with it we bless God and curse men. Ouch. God is in the process of showing me the effects my words are having and to be honest, it's downright embarrassing and yet, I keep saying those hurtful words. AHHHH!
It is good to know that my sin does not surprise God - I mean He put this struggle in the Bible thousands of years before I existed - and that He desires to train my mental goalie to listen to His calls and not mine.
Have I ever mentioned that we have an awesome God?
posted by Andi at
6:28 PM
